Of the 30 largest metropolitan areas that the Zillow Real Estate Market report analyzes, 20 experienced annual home value increases of at least ten percent in August, the most significant of which were in California cities—Sacramento rose 34.1 percent—plus Las Vegas and Phoenix. Overall, 85 percent of the 382 markets analyzed by the report saw home prices increase 6.6 percent annually, the largest gain since July 2006 when values rose 7.6 percent. As Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow tells nationalmortgagenews, “Double-digit appreciation does help to lift homeowners out of negative equity, and to entice sellers into a low-inventory environment,” but this pace cannot be safely maintained. MHProNews has learned during the coming 12 months Zillow says home values will increase another 5.2 percent to $170,500.
