In January, home prices in the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan regions posted their largest annual gains since the summer of 2006, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released March 26.
The monthly composite that tracks home price trends in the country’s 10 largest cities increased 7.3 percent compared to January 2012, while the composite that tracks prices in the 20 largest metros increased 8.1 percent.
“The two headline composites posted their highest year-over-year increases since summer 2006,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in the report. “This marks the highest increase since the housing bubble burst.”
Each of the 20 largest regions posted annual gains, led by the Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix and San Francisco metropolitan areas, which all posted double-digit annual gains.
Out of the 20 regions tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller, the New York region had the smallest gains at 0.6 percent compared to January 2012. However, the index measuring home prices in the New York metropolitan area was higher than the previous year for the first time in 24 months.
