Home prices continued to rise, with some indices achieving new highs. Areas in the Northwest and Mountain Region maintained a tight grip on top spots.
In February 2017, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Composite 20 Home Price Index was 193.49, up 0.4 percent from a month earlier.
Compared to the same month last year, the Case Shiller index, which wasn’t adjusted for seasonal factors, has ascended 5.9 percent.
S&P Dow Jones Indices, which released the index Tuesday, said the 20-city index is still 6.3 percent below its July 2006 peak. But its national index reached a 32-month high and was 0.5 percent above the July 2006 peak.
The 20-city index stood 44.3 percent above the March 2012 trough.
In Seattle, home prices were 12.2 percent higher than in February 2016, the most of any of the cities tracked in the 20-city index.
At 9.7 percent, Portland had the second-biggest year-over-year gain. An 8.8 percent increase was recorded for Dallas, while Denver was up 8.5 percent.
New York had the distinction of rising least among the 20 cities: 3.2 percent.
On a month-over-month basis, Seattle’s prices were up 1.9 percent, more than any city. Prices were down the most — 0.5 percent — in Tampa, Florida.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported its U.S. House Price Index on Tuesday at 244.8 as of February 2017.
The index, which is determined by national prices on home purchase transactions financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, indicated that there has been a 6.4 percent increase in home prices since February 2016.
Compared to a year earlier, February 2017’s index was up 9.5 percent in the Mountain Region, the most of nine regions tracked by FHFA. Home prices were up just 4.6 percent in the Middle Atlantic, the lowest of any region.
The U.S. index from FHFA, the regulator and conservator of the two government-sponsored housing enterprises, ascended 0.8 percent
from the previous month.
Over at CoreLogic Inc., a report from early this month said national home prices were up 7 percent between February 2016 and February 2017.
From January to February of this year, CoreLogic’s Home Price Report rose 1 percent. Between February and March, CoreLogic estimates home prices increased just 0.4 percent.
By February 2018, CoreLogic expects prices to rise another 4.7 percent from 12 months earlier.
Black Knight Financial Services’ HPI had average U.S. home price at $268,000 as of February. That was an 0.8 percent month-over-month increase and a 5.7 percent year-over-year improvement.
Black Knight’s data indicate that home prices are at an all-time high. That is 35 percent better than the January 2012 low.
Washington fared better than any other state in Black Knight’s report compared to the prior month, with a 2.2 percent increase. Colorado’s 1.6 percent followed, then Oregon’s 1.5 percent, New York’s 1.2 percent and Utah’s 1.2 percent. No change in West Virginia was the worst performance of any state.
