Black Knight: May Home Prices Jump 1.1%

Black Knight Financial Services, Jacksonville, Fla., said U.S. home prices jumped by 1.1 percent in May, bringing home prices to well within 2 percent of their 2006 peak.

Year over year, Black Knight said home prices rose by 5.4 percent. The report said all states and metropolitan areas saw positive growth in May.

At $263,000, the U.S. Home Price Index is nearly 32 percent from the bottom of the market at the start of 2012 and is just 1.8 percent off its June 2006 peak ($268,000).

Idaho led movement among states, seeing 1.9 percent growth for the month, followed by North Dakota at 1.8 percent. Of the 20 largest states only Missouri saw year over year declines in home prices. Six states saw new home price peaks: Indiana ($149,000); Massachusetts ($368,000); New York ($356,000); Tennessee ($186,000); Texas ($225,000); and Washington ($332,000).

At the metro level, Portland, Ore., led with 13.2 percent year over year growth, followed by Seattle (11.3 percent) and Denver (11.2 percent). Mountain states dominated month over month top-performing metro areas, accounting for eight of the top 10, with Cheyenne, Wyo., and Fort Collins, Colo. leading at 2.1 percent each.

Of the 40 largest metros, only the St. Louis metro area registered year-over-year declines in home prices. Fifteen of the 40 largest metros hit new peaks: Austin, Texas ($303,000); Boston ($424,000); Charlotte, N.C. ($209,000); Columbus, Ohio ($183,000); Dallas ($234,000); Denver ($357,000); Houston ($227,000); Kansas City, Mo. ($182,000); Nashville, Tenn. ($235,000); Pittsburgh ($194,000); Portland, Ore. ($352,000); San Antonio ($202,000); San Francisco ($771,000); San Jose ($920,000); and Seattle ($405,000).