Home Values in The Black For First Time Since 2006

Home values increase more than $1.3 trillion

After five straight years of dropping home values, Zillow is reporting that by the end of 2012, overall home values should increase by more than $1.3 trillion. The last time home values went up instead of down was in 2006, when total home values rose $438 billion from 2005.

Considering home values dropped nearly $800 billion last year, this year’s gain is particularly noteworthy.

Home values up in 29 out of 30 major metro areas

The report covers 177 metro areas — of the 30 largest metro areas, there was only one, Philadelphia, that did not show an annual increase in average home values. The five markets showing the biggest gains were Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose (all in California), Phoenix, AZ and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In fact, of the 177 metropolitan areas surveyed, more than 75% showed an increase in average home values over last year.

Median home price rises more than 10%

The median home price rose to just over $180,000 in November, reflecting a 10.1 percent annual increase in the median price.

Housing market recovery steady

With improved employment numbers and better consumer confidence, experts seem to agree that the housing market is trending strongly towards continued recovery. Existing home sales rose nearly 6 percent, to the highest rate in nearly three years — while the number of owned homes on the market is at its lowest since 2001.

Via Zillow, Bloomberg and  Businessweek.