For the second quarter in a row, home prices have risen. The Case-Shiller index was released this morning, and showed that home prices rose in the 3rd quarter. This could be good news for those whose homes are underwater, as the improving home prices would help alleviate the issues concerned with negative equity.

However, there is still a ways to go, in spite of the improvement seen. MarketWatch reports on the state of the housing market right now:

“We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months,” says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, in a statement.

“However, the gains in the most recent month are more modest than during the seasonally strong summer months. Fewer cities saw month to month improvements in September than in August in both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted figures.”

There are hopes that the extended first time home buyer tax credit will help spur more home buying — and help home prices on the road to recovery.