This July there was a rebound in the average home price, bringing homes to the same pricing level as nine years ago. The S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index indicated that the average home price in July rose 1.6 percent in comparison to the prior month.

The increase in July was the third straight month that home prices improved in all 20 major U.S. markets. This would have been the fourth month of improvement across the board if it were not for a slight decline in the housing market in Detroit for the month of April.

In comparison with the housing market at this time a year ago, the index is up 1.2 percent. June marked the first month that home prices were actually higher than they were the previous year.

The July index increase of 1.6 percent matches home pricing levels that have not been seen since the summer of 2003. In 2003 the housing marketing was climbing towards its 2006 peak. After the peak, the market collapsed, which lead to the 2008 financial crisis.

According to the S&P Index Committee "Existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing."

The record low (as a result of the Federal Reserve's current quantitative easing program) and a decrease of home placed on the market have helped to improve home prices. On Thursday, September 13th, Federal Reserve began purchasing $40 billion in MBS bonds to jumpstart the economy, lower interest rates and positively stimulate the housing market.

An improvement in the unemployment rate has also helped with home prices. While is looks like the housing market has turned in a positive direction and began improving, it is expected to still take several more years before housing prices will increase more than 1-2% per year. Since the housing market was damaged by the large decrease in home values and the high increase in the number of foreclosures, with this turnaround it now has the chance to improve.