Home prices rose nearly 10% national on a year-over-year basis according to the latest reading from the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices.
Prices showed an uptick of 8.6% year-over-year in February for Case-Shiller’s 10-city composite index and 9.3% for its 20-city composite index, indicating a home price recovery is holding strong.
“Home prices continue to show solid increases across all 20 cities,” said David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The 10- and 20-City Composites recorded their highest annual growth rates since May 2006; seasonally adjusted monthly data show all 20 cities saw higher prices for two months in a row – the last time that happened was in early 2005.”
Prices rose slightly from January to February with the 10- and 20-city indexes showing a .4% and .3% uptick, respectively. Regionally, Phoenix represented a standout market with 23% year-over-year growth while Atlanta and Dallas had the highest annual growth rates in the history of the index.
“Phoenix, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta were the four cities with the highest year-over-year price increases,” Blitzer said. “Atlanta recovered from a wave of foreclosures in 2012 while the other three were among the hardest hit in the housing collapse. At the other end of the rankings, three older cities – New York, Boston and Chicago – saw the smallest year-over-year price improvements.”
The data indicates housing is still on the upswing, despite mixed signals among multifamily indicators.
“Despite some recent mixed economic reports for March, housing continues to be one of the brighter spots in the economy,” Blitzer said. “The 2013 first quarter GDP report shows that residential investment accelerated from the 2012 fourth quarter and made a positive contribution to growth. One open question is the mix of single family and apartments; housing starts data show a larger than usual share is apartments.”
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
