Home Prices Nearing Pre-Crash Levels

Home price are again approaching the high point they reached in 2006, before the bottom fell out of the housing market.  Black Knight in its Home Price Index Report for April says that U.S. home prices are now only 12 percent off of that peak. 

Black Knights Home Price Index (HPI) was up 0.9 percent in April to $236,000 from $234,000.  This is 6.4 percent higher than the HPI in April 2013 of $222,000.  Prices peaked nationally in June 2006 at $269,000.

Nineteen of the 20 largest states posted month-over-month increases with Arizona which was unchanged for the month, being the lone exception.  The largest gains were in Georgia and Massachusetts each of which posted 1.6 percent appreciation.  Maryland was up 1.4 percent and Delaware and Michigan each increased by 1.3 percent.  After Arizona the smallest price increases were in Iowa (0.4 percent) followed by five states that each posted increases of 0.5 percent, Vermont, Nevada, Nebraska, New York, and Hawaii.

Texas and Colorado set new price peaks as they have done each month since mid-2013.  Dallas, Denver, Houston, San Antonio, Austin and San Antonia also each set another new post-crash high and were joined in April by Nashville.  That city set a new HPI of $200,000, up 1.4 percent from March.

Black Knight's report summarizes sales concluded each month using a repeat sales analysis of home prices on their transactions dates.  The HPI represents the price of non-distressed sales by taking into account price discounts for bank-owned real estate (REO) and short sales.