139.84

Current level of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which tracks residential prices in 20 markets nationwide. The increase from April to May was 0.63 points. (The index is calculated monthly and published with a two-month lag, so May figures are the latest available.) While modest, the gain represents the first positive uptick in the index in three years. “It is very possible that years from now we will say that April 2009 was the trough in home prices,” Maureen Maitland, S&P’s president for index services, told The New York Times.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported an 11 percent month-over-month increase in sales of new single-family homes for June 2009. That’s the third monthly increase in a row for home sales, which other industry experts have said would point to the beginning of a housing recovery.—Daniel DiClerico | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook