The housing market recovery picked up steam in the final three months of last year – prices shot up 7.3%, according to S&P Case-Shiller.

The report covered home prices across 20 major housing markets and comes ahead of a government report on the sales of new homes due later Tuesday.

The home price increase marks the third straight quarter of year-over-year gains.

The improvement is driven by many factors, including near record-low mortgage rates, a drop in the number of home foreclosures, a tight supply of homes available for sale, and an improvement in the overall economy, including a lower unemployment rate.  Read more