According to the Associated Press, a housing report shows home prices have improved for the fourth straight month in September 2009.

Experts say this is more evidence that the housing market is slowly improving.

The most recent Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index report, which tracks prices in 20 major metropolitan markets, rose 0.3 percent in September, compared with the previous month.

Eleven areas showed improvement.

In October, the National Association of Realtors reported home sales rose more than 10 percent.

Aided by the home buyer tax credit, the outlook for housing and the economy appears headed for a sustainable recovery, it reported on Nov. 13.

“Given the success of the first-time buyer tax credit to date, and the need for qualified buyers to continue to absorb inventory that will include additional foreclosures over the coming year, we are hopeful about the impact of the expanded tax credit because it will stabilize home prices,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “In fact, the credit is working better than first projected – it now looks like we’ll have 2.3 to 2.4 million first-time buyers this year.”

A consumer study by the National Association of Realtors released this month shows first-time buyers accounted for a record 47 percent share of home sales over the past year, up from 41 percent in the 2008 survey. The share has risen steadily since a cyclical low of 36 percent in 2006.