US Housing Market Prices Jump

Home prices in major U.S. cities registered the first monthly gain in nearly three years, according to a new report that provided fresh evidence that the severe U.S. housing downturn could be easing, Wall Street Journal reports.

Meanwhile, home values in the Dallas area are showing modest improvements from a low point set in early 2009, according to the latest data released Tuesday.

But Dallas-area prices were still down 4.1 percent in May from a year ago in Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Index report.

Some analysts are betting that the North Texas market will flatten out later this year after more than two years of steady declines in prices and sales , Dallas Morning News reports.

However, after seasonal adjustment, prices showed a 0.2 percent decline, but this was still an improvement in the recent trend, economists said.

It is "a pretty significant indicator that we might be at or near a bottom," the other developer of the index, economist Karl Case, said in an interview.

Other recent signs of a housing market turnaround were seen in new home sales data for June which jumped 11 percent, the biggest monthly gain in eight years, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday, Reuters reports.