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Home prices rose 6.9 percent in the second quarter, according to the ""Case-Shiller National Home Price Index"":http://www.standardandpoors.com/indices/sp-case-shiller-home-price-indices/en/us/?indexId=spusa-cashpidff--p-us compiled by Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós, the strongest quarter-over-quarter gain since the index began in 1987, S&P reported Tuesday.
[IMAGE]Separately, the monthly 10- and 20-city index rose 2.2 percent and 2.3 percent respectively in June, S&P said. The two indexes were up 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent respectively in the last year, the first year-year gains in the monthly measures since September (20-year) and October (10-year) 2010.
The 10-city index rose to its highest level since September 2011 and the 20-city index to its highest level since August 2011.
Economists had expected the 20-city index to grow 1.4 percent in June and be flat year-over-year.
[COLUMN_BREAK]Prices improved month-month in all 20 cities tracked by Case Shiller led by a 6.0 percent jump in Detroit, a 4.8 percent increase in Minneapolis, a 4.6 percent improvement in Chicago and a 4.4 percent gain in Atlanta.
According to the ""National Association of Realtors"":http://www.realtor.org/, the median price of an single family home rose 4.7 percent in June while the government report from the Census Bureau and HUD showed the median price of a new home fell 3.4 percent in that month.
Year-over-year, the median price of an existing single family home was up 7.5 percent in June, according to the NAR as did the median price of a new home.
The price increase in Detroit came in a month in which the unemployment rate in that city jumped to 18.3 percent from 17.6 percent in May though employment increased 2,767 to 279,232. Unemployment shot up 3,165 to 62,398.
Prices rose year-over-year in 13 of the 20 cities ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô compared with May when prices rose year-over-year in 12 cities - led by led by Phoenix, 13.9 percent, Minneapolis, 5.7 percent, Miami, 34.4 percent and Denver 4.0 percent.
The steepest year-over-year price drop was in Atlanta, 12.1 percent, followed by New York, 2.1 percent, Las Vegas, 1.8 percent and Chicago, 1.7 percent.
The price index for three cities ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô Denver, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô rose to their highest levels since 2008.
Even with the improvement in April, the 10-city price index is down 45.6 percent from its June 2006 peak and the 20-city index is down 44.5 percent from its July 2006 high point.
