US S&P Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index (17:00 msk) Residential real estate prices have been consistently trending higher for a year and another increase is widely expected in today’s update for March. In the previous release, prices rose 1.2 percent on the month, which translates into a 9.4 percent annual advance for the 20-city benchmark. That is a robust sign that the housing recovery rolls on. It is also a number that promotes the view that April’s tumble in new housing starts is not the beginning of the end for this sector’s recovery. Nonetheless, there are still challenges to overcome. One of the headwinds for housing is the difficulty that consumers face in securing credit. “Strict lending standards, continued deleveraging and limits to mortgage equity withdrawal” are factors that are constraining the pace of growth, observes this month’s commentary from the investment firm Pimco. But as long as housing prices rise, the impediments to lending will recede. Nothing promotes lending and buying like a bull market. On that front, today’s update is likely to deliver more good news.