U.S. home prices appear have to scraped a bottom, with a leading national index showing three consecutive months of gains this summer.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas showed a 1% increase in the seasonally adjusted median price of homes from July to August. The index has posted month-to-month gains since June.

“I think we have reached some kind of bottom,” David Blitzer, chairman of S&P’s Index Committee, said. U.S. home prices continued to decline in August, falling 11.3% when compared to the same month a year earlier, though not as steeply as past months, according to the data released this morning.

“This one looks real at this point,” Blitzer said. “The question more to me is whether this is going to sort of flatten out or if it is going to go straight up; if you get a month that goes down [going forward], I don’t think that it is much of a concern.”

Looking at the seasonally adjusted monthly data, 17 of the metro areas tracked by the index showed improvements in August when compared to July. Meanwhile, 19 out of the 20 markets showed moderation in their year-over-year rates of decline.

As of August, home prices across the United States are at their pre-bubble levels of autumn 2003, according to the index.

Southern California cities — San Diego and, in particular, Los Angeles — have seen notable gains, separating themselves from other Sun Belt cities, including Las Vegas and Phoenix, Blitzer said.

Los Angeles area prices in August improved 1.3% over July on a seasonally adjusted basis. The median price was down 12% when compared to the same month a year earlier. Home prices in San Diego rose 1.5% on a seasonal basis from July but fell 8.9% when compared to August 2008.

San Francisco area homes gained 2.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis over the month of July, an increase second only to Minneapolis. On a year-over-year basis, San Francisco area homes declined 12.5% in August.

Only the cities of Las Vegas, Charlotte, N.C., and Cleveland reported monthly declines in August. August home prices in the Las Vegas area dropped 0.3% when compared to July. Las Vegas also had the biggest year-over-year drop, falling 29.9% in August.

Las Vegas is “reeling” from the drop in tourism, oversupply in housing, construction crash and high unemployment, Michael D. Larson, a housing analyst with Weiss Research said.

Phoenix fared better, posting a 1% median home price increase in August over July. It also saw the second largest drop in the year-over-year number, down 25.1%.

Housing market analysts cited the federal government’s $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers as an important factor in the housing market’s recovery of late. The credit applies to home sales that close through Nov. 30 and is part of the $787-billion federal stimulus package enacted in February.

Larson of Weiss Research said that while the credit played an important role, the most significant factor driving the housing market was the relative affordability of homes.

“The real question is what happens now,” he said. “You are going to see some give-back, you are probably going to see a pause in the recovery. But I think the fundamental story is that housing got way too expensive and now you could argue that housing is cheap again and that is what it boils down to in 50 words or less.”

From the L.A. Times alejandro.lazo@latimes.com

The Valerie Fitzgerald Group specializes in luxury residential real estate in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood, Santa Monica and Malibu. Valerie has more than 20 years of real estate experience and is known for her solid reputation in the West Los Angeles brokerage community. She’s also the author of Heart and Sold: How to Survive and Build a Recession-Proof Business.

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