Homes Prices Rise for Third Straight Month

(Updated with stock prices.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Home prices rose for the third straight month in August and are falling slower on an annual basis.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index inched up 1% to 144.5, better than the 0.7% increase economists had expected.

The news sent shares of homebuilders in the green. KB Home (KBH Quote) is rising 1.6% to $15.70, Toll Brothers(TOLL Quote)is up 1.4% to $18.61, Pulte Homes(PHM Quote)is growing 1.8% to $9.87, Lennar(LEN Quote)is increasing 2.7% to $13.93, MDC (MDC Quote) is increasing 2.6% to $35.15 and D.R. Horton(DHI Quote)is advancing 2% to $12.17.

While prices are still down 11.4% from last year, annual declines have slowed throughout the year.

Still, 12 of the 20 major metropolitan areas tracked saw price declines greater than 10%, with Las Vegas continuing to lead the downturn.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York

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