The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s latest Home Price Index (HPI) showed Texas lagging behind the U.S. in price appreciation, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
According to the third quarter 2013 HPI, which was released late last week, Texas home prices increased 7.13 percent during the year ending in September. Nationally, prices increased 8.4 percent during the same period.
“Texas’ growth rate was below the national average mainly because we didn’t have the severe slump in prices that other states had,” said Real Estate Center Research Economist Dr. Jim Gaines. “So our growth is from a much stronger base.”
At 10.31 percent, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land had the largest one-year price increase of the state’s major metros, followed by Austin-Round Rock at 10.08 percent. Dallas-Plano-Irving came in at 9.73 percent, San Antonio-New Braunfels at 7.67 percent, and Fort Worth-Arlington at 5.88 percent.
For more on this, tune into tomorrow’s Real Estate Red Zone podcast, when Gaines will talk about state and U.S. housing market conditions.
Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency and RECON