Black Knight Financial Services recently released its February 2016 residential real estate transactions report, the Home Price Index (HPI). The report found that national home prices in February were up 5.3 percent on an annual basis and increased 0.7 since January.
Other notable points of the report include:
- The U.S. HPI was reported at $254,000 — up 27.5 percent from the market’s bottom but 5 percent off the June 2006 peak of $267,000
- Home prices in New York, Tennessee and Texas all hit new peaks in February
- San Jose led metro areas with 2.4 percent price growth from January, followed by Seattle at 2.1 percent
- Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey were the only states to see negative price movement in February, accounting for seven of the ten worst performing metro areas
- Of the nation’s 40 largest metros, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville, Portland, San Antonio, San Francisco and San Jose all hit new peaks
The Pacific Coast and Colorado stacked the list of biggest metro movers, with every metro in the top 10 hailing from California, Colorado, Oregon or Washington.
The East Coast tells an opposite story: Every metro in the bottom ten came from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey or Rhode Island.
Home values in Los Angeles saw similar strong growth month-over-month as other West Coast markets did in February, jumping 1 percent. Although still 7 percent below the market’s peak in 2006, L.A.’s HPI carries a hefty $584,000 price tag and is up over 48 percent since 2012.
California also saw a healthy bump in home values in February, increasing 1.3 percent month-over-month to $458,000 — over $200,000 more than the national average. Like other sunny markets in Arizona and Florida, California’s HPI continues to increase since bottoming out in 2012, but it still remains far away (12.3 percent) from its peak in 2006.
