Both the 10- and 20- city composites recorded annual rates of decline of 1.0% and 0.7% compared to May 2011. While still negative, Blizer says these annual changes are “the best” in at least 18 months.

By city (as illustrated above), Phoenix – one of the hardest hit areas during the housing collapse – posted the best annual return, with average home prices up 11.5% from May 2011. Other cities, like Chicago, fared the best in terms of monthly returns, with a 4.5% increase in home prices as compared to April.

Forecasting the month to come, Blitzer says 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. “The housing market seems to stabilizing,” he says, “but we are definitely on a wait-and-see-mode for the next few months.”

The latest indices follow a report issued by Goldman Sachs last Monday that predicted a rebound in the single-family home sales and construction market. In the study, GS analysts Joshua Pollard and Anto Savarirajan wrote that housing has a “long list of positives,” including renewed home price appreciation, a decline of shadow supply and a lower risk of another price shock – as long as affordability remains at “attractive levels” and mortgage lending doesn’t tighten.

In addition, private equity giant the Blackstone Group (BX) recently gave housing its own vote of support, committing up to $125 million with Red Bank, NJ-based homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV) in a land-bank agreement for a portfolio of development parcels for new homes.

Michael Grupe, executive vice president of research and investor outreach at NAREIT, told GlobeSt.com earlier today that the single-family market is "very close" to the bottom, and the sector could emerge as the new "darling" of the industry for new investment. “We're aware of a number of reports that have surfaced in recent months about investment organizations seeking to invest a significant amount of capital into the single-family housing market in part to benefit from the significant decline in values that have taken place over five, six years," he said.