Topping the Nation in Home-Price Growth

For the first time in nine years, Seattle has topped the nation in home-price growth according to the latest S&P Case-Shiller home price index.Home prices rose 11 percent in September over a year ago, narrowly beating Portland whose prices grew by 10.9 percent. According to The Seattle Times, Seattle had been second in the country behind Portland for the last eight months.As we have seen for most of this year, Seattle area home prices have been growing twice as fast as the rest of the country. The Seattle Times reported Seattle had "already broken its old record earlier this year after seeing prices rise for more than four straight years." We have seen home values rise by nearly 60 percent since early 2012.Most home prices usually peak in the spring and slow down around the end of the year. However, as The Seattle Times explains, "the Case-Shiller data showed that prices remained flat compared to a month ago, even as national home prices gained slightly from the prior month. But that's mostly a function of how Seattle's housing market typically works; when adjusted for normal seasonal changes, Seattle's monthly home-price change looks about the same as the nationwide increase."Additionally, this latest report shows that home-price gains are actually slowing slightly. Last month, the index for Seattle reported 11.4 percent - that is the biggest annual gain in more than two years. In September, we only saw 11 percent.While Portland and Seattle grew by double digits again (not uncommon over the last few months), the other cities in the top five list only grew by single digits. Following No. 1 Seattle and No. 2 Portland were Denver, Dallas, and Tampa with 8.7, 8, and 7.5 percent price growth, respectively.Read more from The Seattle Times.