Home Prices Rise 12.8% Nationally

• October 29, 2013

by Shilpi Paul

Home prices rose 12.8% nationally between August 2012 and August 2013, according to the Case-Shiller report released this morning. Growth is accelerating; in July, prices had risen 12.4% year-over-year. Between July and August, the 10 and 20-city indices rose 1.3%.

Several California cities showed high year-over-year gains: Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco all showed year-over-year gains of more than 20%. Las Vegas led the pack, with a gain of 29.2%.

Between July and August, home prices in the DC area increased 0.7%, and 6.3% year-over-year.

While all 20 of the metro areas covered by the index reported positive year-over-year gains, monthly increases are slowing. From Case-Shiller’s David M. Blitzer:

“The monthly percentage changes for the 20-City composite show the peak rate of gain in home prices was last April. Since then home prices continued to rise, but at a slower pace each month. This month 16 cities reported smaller gains in August compared to July.”

The Case-Shiller Disclaimer

When considering the Case-Shiller findings, recall that the index is based on closed sales and home price data from several months ago. (A better indicator of where area prices stand right now is the August report from RealEstate Business Intelligence.) Another thing that is important to note is that the main index only covers single-family home prices, so co-op and condo prices are not included in the analysis that is widely reported. Chicago and New York City are two of the cities where Case-Shiller provides a separate index for condo prices, but DC does not have a similar index.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly when considering the conclusions of the index, the area covered by Case-Shiller can only very loosely be described as the “DC area”. According to the site, the following cities are included: DC, Calvert MD, Charles MD, Frederick MD, Montgomery MD, Prince Georges MD, Alexandria City VA, Arlington VA, Clarke VA, Fairfax VA, Fairfax City VA, Falls Church City VA, Fauquier VA, Fredericksburg City VA, Loudoun VA, Manassas City VA, Manassas Park City VA, Prince William VA, Spotsylvania VA, Stafford VA, Warren VA, Jefferson WV.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/home_prices_rise_12.8_percent_nationally/7720