US housing price gains steady in August

Growth in US housing prices was steady in August, with the western cities of Portland, Seattle and Denver again seeing the strongest gains, according to survey data released Tuesday.

The S&P Case-Shiller price index, which covers 20 major cities, was up 5.1 percent year-on-year in the month, matching analyst expectations and rising a tenth of a point from July.

Month over month, the index rose 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. Home prices were still 7.2 percent below the pre-mortgage crisis peak in 2006.

David Blitzer, head of the index committee index S&P Dow Jones Indices, said the price gains were supported by the US economy's modest growth.

"All 20 cities saw prices higher than a year earlier with 10 enjoying larger annual gains than last month," he said in a statement.

Most observers expect the era of low home mortgage interest rates to persist into 2017, despite the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise its the key federal funds rate in December.

With 2012 as a baseline, housing prices are up 38 percent, compared to 59 percent for equities markets, according to Blitzer.