US house prices keep rising in 2013

According to the S&P/Case-Shiller indexes, the US home prices extended a winning streak in November, with 2013 shaping up as the best year for gains since 2005.

The composite 20-city home price index, a key gauge of US home prices, was up 13.7% in November 2013 from a year earlier. All 20 cities have posted year-over-year gains for 11 straight months.

Prices in the 20-city index were 0.1% lower than the prior month, but that’s mostly due to the weaker winter selling season. Adjusted for seasonal variations, prices were 0.9% higher month-over-month. Nine of the 20 cities posted a monthly decline, though on a seasonally adjusted basis priced no city saw a drop.

Though home-price gains have been strong, the Case-Shiller data are lagged.

Many analysts expect increases to moderate this year.