Turnaround Towns Take Q1 Home Prices Up

The Phoenix-Mesa area led 146 metropolitan markets surveyed with a 24 percent increase in home prices year-over-year for the first three months of 2012, improving from the No. 2 rank in the 4th quarter of 2011.

Real estate markets throughout the U.S. continued to stabilize in the first quarter, as half of the metropolitan areas surveyed by the National Association of Realtors showed an increase in home prices.

The NAR report released Monday by Move Inc. listed home price increases in 74 out of 146 metropolitan areas, led largely by markets hit hardest by foreclosures during the housing crisis. Only 29 areas showed gains in the fourth quarter of 2011. The Phoenix-Mesa market leads the Top Turnaround Towns report with a 27 percent price increase since the first quarter of 2011, as well as a 48 percent drop in inventory levels. Phoenix also holds the lowest unemployment rate of the top 10 areas ranked, and is third-lowest in that category overall.

Two Florida markets were close behind the leader: Miami ranked second with a 24.3 percent year-over-year home price increase and a 48 percent decline in inventory, and Orlando followed with a 11.5 percent price increase and a 41.6 percent drop in available housing inventory. Seven of the 25 markets ranked are in Florida.

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Oakland and San Jose, Calif., ranked sixth and 24th respectively, were boosted by the continued growth of technology companies in the Bay area. Detroit ranked 23rd with a 5.8 percent increase in home prices and a 29.6 percent decrease in for-sale inventory. The turnaround is welcome news, given the city?EUR??,,????'?????<