This past spring, a look at real estate in the Denver area saw home prices climbing out of the basement of 2008. Driven in part by low inventory, 2012 prices nearly reached highs not seen since 2006. Now, a new report suggests that climb has continued. According to a recently-released Case-Shiller report, home prices in the Denver area were up 1.6 percent in July when compared to the previous month. And, year-over-year, July prices were up 9.7 percent. (Similarly, according to the report, the home price increase in Denver was 1.7 percent from May to June.)

The Denver increase is in line with the 1.8 percent average increase of the 20 cities that the report tracks. The largest year-over-year increases were in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, which all posted increases of 20 percent or more. Though those double-digit gains may become less common. “Since April 2013, all 20 cities are up month-to-month; however, the monthly rates of price gains have declined,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the committee that produces the home price index, in the report. “More cities are experiencing slow gains each month than the previous month, suggesting that the rate of increase may have peaked.”

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