(Save the date: RealShareNew York comes to the Grand Hyatt, New York, NY,October 9.)

NEW YORK CITY-Home prices have increased across 20 US cities forthe fourth consecutive month, a sign that the single-family housingmarket is raising expectations and continuing its steady comeback.Data from S&P/Case-Shiller in July releasedthis morning shows that average home prices increased by 1.5% forS&P’s 10-city composite and by 1.6% for the 20 city-composite,which is a 6.33% overall jump since March 2012, a company spokesmanconfirms to GlobeSt.com.

Case-Shiller, which measures the three-month moving average ofhome prices and is reported on a two-month lag, shows that all 20major metropolitan cities ranked by S&P posted better annualreturns in July as compared to June 2012—an indicator of thereturning strength of the market and the upbeat trend soundingresidential homes.