US housing prices reveal healthy gain in December

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, released Tuesday, rose 6.8 percent in December compared with the same month a year ago. That's up from a 5.5 percent annual gain in November.

Nationwide, the report showed that prices rose 7.3 percent in 2012. That is similar to other home price measures that show a healthy gain last year.

Prices also rose in December compared with a year ago in 19 of the 20 cities tracked by the index. New York was the only metro area to show a decrease.

Purchases of previously occupied homes rose last year to their highest level in five years. The National Association of Realtors forecasts that sales will rise 9 percent this year.

At the same time, the number of available homes for sale fell last month to the lowest level in 13 years. In December, the 20-city index ticked up 0.2 percent from the previous month, reversing November's small decline.

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