The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite index was released this morning, showing a 0.7% increase in month-over-month, non-seasonally adjusted home prices.

It was no surprise to see the monthly change pop so dramatically in April to 0.7%. After all, it has done the same thing the last three years in a row. It is a bit surprising, however, that this number is the one getting attention as opposed to the seasonally adjusted figures which show a monthly decline of 0.1%.

The good news is that the monthly decline in the index is getting smaller, a trend also confirmed by the Zillow Home Value Index which has seen modestly improving monthly depreciation rates in 2011. The housing market is healing naturally now, but unfortunately we are still years away from seeing normal appreciation rates.