The West continues to dominate the United States in terms of home prices as the majority of the top states were all located within the region. Washington and Colorado were one and two on the list of biggest yearly price gains with increases of 12.4 percent and 10.5 percent respectively, over the past 12 months, MarketWatch reports.
Other Western states that saw big increases in their home values were Oregon (9.3 percent), Nevada (8.6 percent), and California (7.5 percent). All three of these states had home prices that increased a rather healthy amount over the 6.8 percent national average.
But whenever there are winners, there are also losers, and Louisiana, West Virginia, and New Jersey filled the loser’s bracket. Louisiana and West Virginia both had 0.5 percent gains and New Jersey saw prices rise 1.5 percent.
Since the local jobless rate is a good indicator of how home prices will do, it follows that Colorado’s unemployment rate was 3 percent in February, well below the 4.9 percent national average. Meanwhile, West Virginia had an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent and Illinois, whose home prices only rose 2.5 percent, had an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent.
Florida had the largest increase in home prices for a state not located in the West (and the third highest increase overall) with a 10.2 percent rise in home values. Meanwhile, Virginia (2.2 percent), Maryland (2.2 percent), Maine (2.8 percent), and Oklahoma (3.0 percent) all joined West Virginia, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Illinois as states near the bottom for home price gains.
To see MarketWatch’s full list, click the link below.
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