According to the first quarter Zillow? Real Estate Market Reports, U.S. home values climbed 5.7 percent year-over year in the first quarter of 2014. Nationally, home values remain 13.5 percent below their 2007 peak, after falling 22.6 percent during the recession before bottoming in 2011. Among the more than 300 metro housing markets covered by Zillow, home values in 60 have already exceeded or are expected to exceed their pre-recession peaks in the next year.
?The lows of the housing recession are becoming an increasingly distant memory as home values reach new highs and homes become more expensive than ever in many areas. This is a remarkable milestone coming only two and a half years after the end of the worst housing recession since the Great Depression, and is a testament to just how robust this housing recovery has been,? said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries.