Home prices up in March

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. home prices rose at a steady pace in March, pushed higher by a limited supply of houses for sale.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5 percent in March from 12 months earlier. Prices increased at the same pace in February.

Home values are rising at a faster rate than incomes, potentially pricing many would-be buyers out of the market. Yet current increases have moderated from the double-digit gains of late 2013 and early last year.

The biggest increases were in San Francisco and Denver, where prices rose 10.3 percent and 10 percent respectively.

The Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. The index measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The March figures are the latest available.