D.C., Denver, New York show best home price growth over last 20 years

June 22, 2011

Washington, D.C., has seen home prices grow 220 percent over the last two decades, easily the top growth rate in the country since 1991, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index for the first quarter of the year.
The FHFA is calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages.
Even with the severe price drops of the last five years, prices are up 81 percent nationwide for the last 20 years. Besides the District of Columbia, most of the states with the strongest price growth are concentrated in the West: Montana (184 percent), Wyoming (182 percent), Colorado (156 percent) and Oregon (147 percent) round out the top five. In fact, Louisiana is the only state east of the Mississippi River to crack the top 10.
Nevada had the smallest price growth over the last 20 years, with only 21 percent appreciation since 1991 and a 56 percent drop in home prices since 2006. Michigan (42 percent), Ohio (50 percent), Georgia (51 percent) and California (55 percent) had the next smallest price increases over the two-decade period.
Of the 25 largest metro areas in the country, Denver tops the list for price appreciation since 1991 at 165 percent. Three New York/New Jersey metro areas — Nassau-Suffolk (156 percent); New York-White Plains-Wayne (138 percent); and Edison-New Brunswick (125 percent) were next on the list. The worst markets were Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (22 percent); Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (30 percent); and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. (41 percent).
On a national basis, the FHFA said that prices dropped 2.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, the second-largest quarterly drop since 1991 and the 16th straight quarter of declines. That represents a 5.5 percent price decline over the last year. Prices have decreased in every state except Alaska, West Virginia and North Dakota since a year ago. Idaho, Arizona, Oregon and Georgia all had double-digit percentage decreases in median home price, according to the FHFA index.