U.S. home prices set record while South Florida continues steady growth

South Florida home prices continued their steady rise in September, while nationally home prices soared past a record high set in July 2006, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, an important housing market indicator.

Year over year, home prices in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties rose 6.7 percent in September, compared to an overall 5.5 percent increase in the United States.

That means home prices nationwide have surpassed their housing bubble peak, Case-Shiller found. But this time economists say the housing market is growing in a sustainable way.

The new peak “will be seen as marking a shift from the housing recovery to the hoped-for start of a new advance,” David Blitzer, managing director of S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement. “While seven of the 20 cities previously reached new post-recession peaks, those that experienced the biggest booms — Miami, Tampa, Phoenix and Las Vegas — remain well below their all-time highs. Other housing indicators are also giving positive signals: sales of existing and new homes are rising and housing starts at an annual rate of 1.3 million units are at a post-recession peak.”

From August to September, South Florida home prices rose .5 percent, compared to a national rate of .4 percent.

Home values in the region recovered quickly after the housing crash but haven’t approached their bubble-era highs. Local home prices stand at about 77 percent of their 2006 peak, according to Case-Shiller.

Nationwide, the cities with the highest rates of annual growth in September were Seattle (11 percent), Portland, Ore. (10.9 percent), Denver (8.7 percent), Dallas (8 percent) and Tampa (7.5 percent).

This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 11:51 AM with the headline "U.S. home prices set record while South Florida continues steady growth."