The latest Case-Shiller from Standard & Poor's was positive from April to May, suggesting good things for home prices.

Home prices in Miami rose by 3.4 percent annually in May in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s, as the city continued to lead the nation in its strong 2012 performance.

As David M. Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, noted, Miami was among the hardest hit metropolitan areas in the nation following the collapse of the housing market, but month after month in 2012, its housing market has improved.

“Miami and Tampa are two other Sunbelt cities that were hard-hit in the downturn, but are now showing positive annual rates of change,” Blitzer said.

In the last Case-Shiller, which tracked home prices from March to April, prices in Miamiincreased 3.2 percent year-over-year.

The Case-Shiller was also quite positive nationally, increasing 2.2 percent from April to May for both the 10- and 20-City Composites. Seventeen of the 20 metropolitan areas saw their annual returns increase in May, and not a single city posted new lows in the month.

In more general comments, Blitzer said the latest Case-Shiller continues a positive seasonal trend for prices, though he preached caution for the rest of 2012

“With May’s data, we saw a continuing trend of rising home prices for the spring,” Blitzer said. “We have observed two consecutive months of increasing home prices and overall improvements in monthly and annual returns; however, we need to remember that spring and early summer are seasonally strong buying months, so this trend must continue throughout the summer and into the fall.”

“June data for existing home sales, new home sales, housing starts and mortgage default rates were a bit mixed, but all are better than their year-ago levels,” Blitzer continued. “The housing market seems to be stabilizing, but we are definitely in a wait-and-see mode for the next few months.”