U.S. home prices rose month-to-month

NEW YORK, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The S&P/Case-Shiller price index said U.S. home prices in 19 of 20 cities monitored showed improved rates of decline in August over July.

The exception among the 20 watched cities was Cleveland, where prices dropped 1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

For the 20-city index, prices rose 1 percent from July to August, the seventh consecutive month of easing rates of decline.

"Broadly speaking, the rate of annual decline in home price values continues to improve," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.

"While many of the markets remain down versus this time last year, the relative rate of decline has shown some real improvement," he said in a statement.

The annual decline in home prices in the 20-city index ranges from a 29.9 percent drop in Las Vegas to a 1.2 percent drop in Dallas. Phoenix shows the second hardest drop at 25.1 percent, while Denver shows the second shortest drop at 1.9 percent.