Metro Atlanta home prices continued their slow but steady march out of the recessionary ditch in September, increasing for the sixth straight month and reaching one milestone the region hadn’t seen in more than two years, according to a closely watched report released Tuesday.

Not only did values improve in September compared to August, but prices increased — if only slightly at 0.1 percent— compared to September 2011. It’s the first time the region posted an annual gain in home prices since June 2010, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Price Index.

“(The improving price index) is finally reflecting what we already knew for the past year,” said Mitch Kaminer, a real estate broker and president of the Atlanta Board of Realtors.

Housing is a vital cog in the economic engine of both Georgia and the U.S., and metro Atlanta has had one of the hardest hit residential real estate markets in the nation.

Georgia had the sixth highest rate of foreclosure in the nation in October, according to real estate research firm RealtyTrac.

The region had such a collapse in home prices that despite recent gains, metro home values remain below January 2000 levels, according to the report, joining only Detroit and Las Vegas among major metros in the index.

Metro Atlanta prices increased a modest 0.3 percent in September, compared to August.

Home prices nationally increased 0.3 percent in September compared to the prior month in the 10-city and 20-city samples. Values were up 2.1 percent and 3 percent, respectively in the 10-city and 20-city composites, compared to September last year.

The inventory of available homes is a fraction of the region’s peak during last decade’s housing boom and interest rates for mortgages are holding near historic lows, Kaminer said.

The Atlanta Board of Realtors said median resale prices in October were flat from September, but prices were up 22.6 percent over October of last year.

The traditionally slow months of October through January could see some retreat from the gained ground, Kaminer said. Continued uncertainty about economic conditions, including fears about the impact of negotiations over automatic spending cuts and tax hikes slated to kick end at year’s end, also could dampen the market, he said.