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.
Although many people think of luxury and opulence when thinking about Miami, the metro’s HPI was only 7.8 percent, or $20,000, higher than the national average. The city’s housing market continues to rebound from the recession, though, with an HPI increasing 51 percent since 2012.
Homes in the rest of Florida aren’t receiving as high appraisals as The Magic City, carrying an HPI of $221,000. The state’s housing market has obviously seen worse, as Black Night puts home values at 40.5 percent higher than they were in 2012.
Florida still has room to improve if it’s ever going to reach the market peak of 2006, when the state’s average HPI sat at $294,000. Steady growth continues, however, with values rising 7.8 percent year-over-year and getting a slight bump in February.