Home prices fell slightly in December, keeping values down by more than 10% from the peak reached before the crisis, according to a monthly report from Black Knight Financial Services.
Black Knight's Home Price Index measured a 0.1% decline in home prices during December, erasing the gain made in the previous month. Year-over-year home prices remained 4.5% higher than in 2013 however.
In terms of dollar amounts, the index stayed put at $241,000 nationwide, which is still higher than $230,000 from the start of the year but still well below the peak of $268,000 recorded in June 2006.
Florida once again dominated the list of cities making the biggest gains in home price, with seven out of the ten metropolitan areas listed. Cape Coral, Fla., experienced the biggest increase at 0.9%. On a state level, home prices in Colorado and New York went up the most, this time by 0.5%.
New Haven, Conn., on the other end, posted the steepest decline in home prices with a 1.5% drop. Four other Connecticut cities also found themselves in the bottom ten cities in terms of falling prices. Michigan led all states in terms of price declines, with the average cost of a home sinking 1.2%.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Black Knight compiles its Home Price Index report each month using its property and loan-level databases for its analysis. The report studies more than 18,500 U.S. ZIP codes, representing the price of nondistressed sales.
