In 17 of 20 U.S. cities included in the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, February house prices increased from a year earlier. The largest year-over-year gains came in Denver (10.0%), Miami (9.2%) and Dallas (8.6%). The largest month-over-month gains came in San Francisco (2.0%) and Denver (1.4%).

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for February increased by 5% year-over-year for the 20-city composite index and by 4.8% for the 10-city composite index. The national index rose 4.2% year-over-year, compared to a 4.4% gain in January. The consensus estimate for the year-over-year 20-city index called for growth of 4.8%.

Month over month, both the 10-city and the 20-city indexes gained 0.5%, while the national index rose by 0.1%.

The index tracks prices on a three-month rolling average. February represents the three-month average of December, January and February prices.

Average home prices for February remain comparable to their levels in the autumn of 2004.

Compared with their peak in the summer of 2006, home prices on both indexes remain down about 15% to 17%. Since the low of March 2012, home prices are up 28.8% and 29.5% on the 10-city and 20-city indexes, respectively.

All 20 cities in the index posted year-over-year gains. In just three cities, the month-over-month change was negative: Cleveland (-1.0%), Las Vegas (-0.3%) and Boston (-0.2%).

Year over year, house price increases in February were smallest in Washington, D.C. (1.4%), Cleveland (2.3%) and New York (2.5%).

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The chairman of the S&P index committee said:

The S&P/Case-Shiller National Index has seen 34 consecutive months with positive year-over-year gains; all 20 cities have shown year-over-year gains every month since the end of 2012. While prices are certainly rebounding, only two cities — Denver and Dallas — have surpassed their housing boom peaks. Nationally, prices are almost 10% below the high set in July 2006. … Based on the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, prices rose 66.8% before adjusting for inflation from January 2000 to February 2015; adjusted for inflation, this is 27.9% or a 1.7% annual rate. The highest price gain over the last 15 years was in Los Angeles with a 4.3% real annual rate; the lowest was Detroit with a -3.6% real annual rate. While nationally, prices are recovering, new construction of single family homes remains very weak despite low vacancy rates among both renters and owner-occupied homes.

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