US home prices still trend lower in November

US home prices rose in November from October but the underlying trend continued to point to a slowdown in price gains, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.
The Case-Shiller 20-city price index rose 4.3 percent year-over-year in November, compared to 4.5 percent in October.
Month-over-month, November home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent.
The Case-Shiller US national index, a broad measure of price gains, edged down 0.1 percent.
"The housing recovery is barely on first base," said David Blitzer, head of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Prospects for a home run in 2015 aren't good."
Most of the housing market recovery is lackluster, with strong price gains limited to California, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, Denver, and Dallas, he said.
"Moreover, these price patterns have been in place since last spring. Existing-home sales were lower in 2014 than 2013, confirming these trends."
Among the challenges holding back the housing recovery are the persistent low inventory of homes on the market and tight lending conditions on mortgages.
Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said the current trendling on prices would likely continue through the first half of the year.
"The underlying trends in most housing market indicators, both volumes and prices, are more or less stable, and we expect them to stay that way," he said in a research note.