State ranks high, metro areas in middle of price appreciation ranks nationwide

The House Price Appreciation rankings from the Federal Housing Finance Agency didn’t offer Colorado’s metro areas the big, positive news it has in the past – that many of them are among the 20 top cities in the nation for house-price growth. But it didn’t offer any bad news, either: all of Colorado’s metro areas stayed out of the bottom 20 cities for house-price appreciation, as well.

Colorado as a whole ranked third among 51 states (District of Columbia included) with a one-year appreciation of 2.76 percent, and a quarterly increase of 0.84 percent. Over five years, homes across Colorado have increased 7.31 percent. Colorado fell behind top-ranked Oklahoma, with a one-year appreciation rank of 3.53 percent, and second-place Virginia, where home prices increased 3.07 percent over the year.

Nationally, home prices dropped 1.21 percent in 2009 from the year before, and 0.10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. In the five years ending in December, they increased 1.66 percent.

Denver-Aurora-Broomfield was the highest-ranking Colorado metro area, landing at 79th among 299 metro areas, with home prices there dropping only 1.37 percent in 2009. Fort Collins-Loveland ranked 80th with prices falling a smidge more - just 1.38 percent - and Boulder ranked 82nd with a 1.45 percent drop in house prices. Grand Junction, a former up-and-coming metro area for appreciation, ranked the lowest of all Colorado cities – 194th – with a 5.63 decrease in home prices last year compared with 2008.

For the complete report and rankings, visit http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/15452/finalHPI22510.pdf.

Here’s a closer look at how Colorado’s metro areas performed in the national rankings compared with the state and the U.S.: