Utah #1 in Home Appreciation 4th Q 2006

Utah has highest home price appreciation in the United States

Utah had the highest housing price appreciation rate in the U.S. from fourth quarter 2005 to fourth quarter 2006, according to a report recently released by a government agency. At a rate of 17.6 percent, Utah’s housing prices increased more than any other state in the nation, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s House Price Index. Utah’s metro areas also had some of the largest housing price growth in the country. With an appreciation rate of 19.92 percent, the Provo-Orem area was ranked third in the nation while Salt Lake City at 19.76 percent came in fourth. Also in the top 20 metro areas was Ogden-Clearfield at 15.30 percent.

The state with the second-highest appreciation rate was Wyoming at 14.3 percent while Idaho came in third at 14 percent. The states with the lowest appreciation were Michigan (-0.4%), Massachusetts (0.5%) and Ohio (1%). Nationally, home prices in the fourth quarter of 2006 were 5.9 percent higher than they were in the same quarter in 2005.