Home prices have been on the rise with impressive vigor across much of the South, and Pittsburgh is also one of the top 10 places cities that have seen a strong upward gain in real-estate values over the past 10 years.
Pittsburgh ranks No. 10 in according to an American City Business Journals analysis of new federal housing data. The region saw a 25.1 percent gain in house prices between 2006 and 2016.
But in dozens of cities across the country, values are more depressed today than they were a decade ago — particularly in certain sections of California, Florida and Nevada, areas that were especially hard hit during last decade’s housing bust and subsequent recession.
ACBJ compared local house prices in the third quarters of 2006 and 2016 using an index managed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The analysis highlighted 10-year index changes for 124 metropolitan areas with populations in excess of 500,000 residents. The FHFA index is measured relative to a 1995 benchmark score of 100 points.
Among the 124 housing markets analyzed, slightly more than half, 66, saw pricing increases during the decade in question, according to ACBJ’s analysis. The remaining 58 areas were down from where they were in 2006.
The national pacesetter during the period analyzed was the Texas capital of Austin, where the value of a typical home soared by 64.9 percent between Sept. 30, 2006, and Sept. 30, 2016. Denver ranked second with an increase of 45.5 percent. Rounding out the top five was a trio of Texas metropolitan areas: Houston (up 45.2 percent), Dallas (43.6 percent) and San Antonio (35.9 percent).
At the opposite end of the spectrum were seven metros where home prices were at least 25 percent off from where they were at the end of the third quarter in 2006. The sharpest decline occurred in Las Vegas, where prices dropped 31.8 percent during the decade analyzed.
Similar declines have played out in other metros that saw homebuilding and home prices explode prior to the housing downturn and subsequent recession. For example, seven of the 14 lowest-ranking metros analyzed were located in Florida, and another five were in California. [Read More at Pittsburgh Business Times]