The housing market’s modest price recovery continued through the summer, according to new data Tuesday — a sunny estimate that could renew confidence in the economy’s comeback just as uncertainty was starting to seep in. Prices in July rose in 17 of the 20 metropolitan areas monitored by Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, while the index itself rose a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent in July — three times more than expected by economists, Reuters reported. “There are now several months of data in which we have seen improvement,” said Maureen Maitland, Standard & Poor’s vice president for index services. “California in particular seems to be showing sustained improvement.” The news instantly reassured investors, who made the U.S. dollar a winner against the yen after the report was published. Concerns persist about the overall health of the housing sector, though. Housing is generally weaker in the second half of any given year, but this year could prove especially challenging, as the federal government’s $8,000 first-time homeowner tax credit is set to expire and other macroeconomic pressures mount.

“These figures continue to support an indication of stabilization in national real estate values, but we do need to be cautious in coming months to assess whether the housing market will weather the expiration of the Federal First-Time Buyer’s Tax Credit in November, anticipated higher unemployment rates and a possible increase in foreclosures,” Standard & Poor’s Index Committee Chairman David Blitzer said. Even so, Only Las Vegas and Seattle showed price drops in the latest report, and their rates of decline have slowed. While prices are still about 33 percent off their peak from 2006, average home prices nationwide have recovered to levels seen in the fall of 2003. “That sustains hope that housing will get to a stable place which is good news for consumer balance sheets and, ultimately, for the economy,” Pierre Ellis, senior economist at Decision Economics, told Reuters.