Prices for single-family houses showed their biggest annual increase since the housing bust, with gains recorded in major cities across the country.
All 20 major metros surveyed in Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index, including Portland, showed a year-over-year increase in home prices in January, according to new numbers released Tuesday.
In the Portland area, prices were up 8.3 percent compared with a year earlier. They fell 0.4 percent compared with December, but were flat when adjusted for typical seasonal variation. Home prices usually turn downward in winter months, and eight metros surveyed posted month-over-month declines.
A composite index of all 20 cities combined showed an 8.1 percent year-over-year increase in home prices, and a 0.1 percent increase from December. January brought the largest annual increase seen in more than six years.
Hard-hit Phoenix saw the biggest increase, as prices rose 23.2 percent in the last 12 months. In San Francisco, prices rose 17.5 percent.
The smallest increase was 0.6 percent in New York, which posted its first annual increase in home prices coming off 26 straight months of declines.
Home price gains have accelerated as the number of homes for sale has dropped across the country. The lack of inventory has created fierce competition between buyers. Banks, meanwhile, have put fewer foreclosures on the market.
Rising prices are expected to persuade more homeowners to sell, but so far that new inventory hasn't met the demand from investors other homebuyers. And many homeowners are locked into underwater mortgages and unable to sell until prices rise further.
The Case-Shiller index uses repeat sales of individual homes to isolate changes in the market overall. It uses a three-month rolling average of data and is released on a two-month delay.
According to the Regional Multiple Listing Service, the median sale price in the Portland area was $248,000 in January. It fell to $242,000 in February.
*courtesy of The Oregonian
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