Miami home prices rise 4.4 percent, according to S&P/Case-Shiller report

Home prices rose 4.4 percent in the Miami metropolitan area in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2011, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller. That was the third-highest price increase of any metro area in the country in the second quarter. Phoenix led the country with a 13.9-percent increase. Nationally, home prices rose 1.2 percent. “Home prices gained in the second quarter,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “We seem to be witnessing exactly what we needed for a sustained recovery: monthly increases coupled with improving annual rates of change.” — Alexander Britell