Home prices rose in the top 20 metro areas by 13.6 percent in the past year, according to the latest SP/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
Jon Chesto
Managing Editor, Print- Boston Business Journal
With all the reports of packed open houses and homes selling for over their asking price in the Boston area, you might think that home values are growing at a much faster pace here than in most other parts of the country.
You might think that. But you’d be wrong.
Apparently, according to the latest SP/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the year-over-year price appreciation in the Boston metro area trails nearly every other major metro region in the country. Only three metro areas — New York, Cleveland and Washington — saw slower home price growth during the past year.
That’s not to say prices aren’t going up here. They are, and at a fairly healthy clip. The Case-Shiller report released earlier this week estimates that prices in the Boston area rose 8.6 percent, between October 2012 and October 2013.
But that pretty much pales in comparison to most other major metro areas. Several places where real estate values were essentially wiped out in the Great Recession are booming again: Home values were up 27 percent, year over year, in Las Vegas, and Phoenix’s and Detroit’s values were up 18 and 17 percent, respectively.
The big gains weren’t limited to those locations where real estate became super-cheap in the recession. Understandably, there would be larger gains, on a percentage basis, in cities that had bigger falls. But look at what’s happening on the West Coast: The San Francisco area led the way, with a nearly 25 percent increase in home values over the year. Prices were up 22 percent in Los Angeles, 20 percent in San Diego, and 13 percent in Portland and Seattle. And check out Chicago: The Windy City saw its highest annual increase — 11 percent — since 1988. The national average, among the top 20 metro areas, was 13.6 percent.
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