Area Home Price Appreciation Ahead of National Average

Washington Business Journal - 1:05 PM EDT Thursday, May 31, 2007
by Jeff Clabaugh
Staff Reporter

The latest report on housing prices comes from the federal government, and it shows that price gains in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. have outpaced the national average.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight says prices in the first quarter were up an average of 4.3 percent from a year earlier, the slowest pace in 10 years.

But Maryland posted average price increases of 6.37 percent from a year ago and 0.46 percent from the previous quarter. The District had an annual gain of 5.91 percent and a quarterly gain of 0.5 percent. Virginia's increases were 5.42 percent and 0.68 percent.

Compared with other states, Maryland had the 18th strongest gain. The District ranked 20th and Virginia 24th.

The OFHEO does not include actual prices in its quarterly report, only percent changes.

"As always, real estate prices are local with seven states showing double-digit annual appreciation rates and seven with rates of less than 2 percent," said OFHEO director James Lockhart. "Seven states, including California and Florida, also showed home price depreciation in the first quarter."

When price appreciation is measured by metropolitan area, Washington records a 3.65 percent rise in the past year.

Two separate reports this month paint different pictures of Washington-area home prices. An S&P/Case-Shiller report released earlier this week said median prices in Washington are down 4.8 percent in the last year. The National Association of Realtors said earlier this month that Washington-area home prices were 1.2 percent above year-ago levels in the first quarter.