Good news for homeowners, especially those thinking about selling or refinancing: Home prices across the country and here in the D.C. metro area rose more than expected in July, according to data released Tuesday from the S&P/Case-Shiller Housing Index.

In Old Town Alexandria's 22314 ZIP code, the average listing price for residences was $984,517 in the week ending Sept. 19, according to data from real estate service Trulia. 

Across the D.C. metro area, the seasonally-adjusted Case-Shiller price index (which measures the average sale price for single-homes) for July this year was 188.64. That's up from 182.06 in July 2011 and 184.11 in July 2010. 

The numbers are calculated based on the repeat sale of existing single-family homes, where the baseline of 100 is the average price as of January 2000. The bottoming out of the index in our area was in April 2009. 

“The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities increased 1.2 percent from July 2011, the biggest 12-month advance since August 2010,” Bloomberg News reported this morning.

Check out our new real estate section on Old Town Alexandria Patch for more news and information about local homes.