HOME PRICES HIT RECORD FOR SIXTH MONTH IN ROW

U. S. home prices reached a new high in May for the sixth consecutive month, raising fears of another housing bubble roughly a decade after a previous one burst. The Standard & Poor’s CoreLogic national home price index, released Tuesday, increased 5.6% in May, the latest data available. It is now 3.2% higher than its July 2006 peak. Some analysts downplay the notion of a new bubble, and the unrelenting price increases may already be cooling sales. Other aspects of the last decade’s housing boom and bust, such as rapid sales increases and surging home building, aren’t happening now. “Price increases vary across the country, unlike the earlier period when rising prices were almost universal,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S& P.

JOHN BAZEMORE, AP