According to a study released Tuesday by the popular real estate website Zillow, declines in home values realized during the Great Recession have either been erased or are close to being erased in nearly 20 percent of the metro housing markets nationwide.
The first-quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Report indicates U.S. home values overall climbed 5.7 percent year over year, with an average median value of $169,800. (This seasonally adjusted figure includes single-family homes, condominiums and cooperatives.) Home values rose 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2014, the ninth-consecutive quarter that saw an increase. U.S. home values are expected to rise another 3.3 percent through the first quarter of 2015.
Nationally, home values remain 13.5 percent below their 2007 peak, after falling 22.6 percent during the recession and bottoming out in 2011, Zillow said.
According to Zillow, home values in the MInneapolis-St. Paul metro hit bottom in the first quarter of 2012. Home values locally are expected to increase 0.3 percent over the next year.
The median home value locally rose 6.4 percent year-over-year to $197,300, above the national rate. Values fell 0.2 percent between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, Zillow said. Metro home values are now back to December 2002 levels.
