Community Corner
Report: DC Area Home Prices Up 7.7 Percent
WSJ: S&P index shows the biggest jump in American home prices since 2006.
Homes sold for an average of 10.9 percent more this March than they did last year, according to Standard & Poor's home price index for 20 cities, including the Washington, DC region.
It's the largest year-over-year gain since 2006, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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In the Washington region, which includes the District of Columbia, Montgomery, Prince George's, Frederick, Charles and Calvert counties and several jurisdictions in Virginia, prices were up 7.7 percent from March 2012.
Phoenix (22.5 percent) and San Francisco (22.2 percent) posted the largest gains, while New York City (2.6 percent) and Cleveland (4.8 percent) saw the smallest increases.
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The Journal said home prices are a litmus test for the U.S. economy because home purchases are the biggest investment for most Americans. Higher prices mean more money for sellers and could signal an increase in inventory for buyers, the newspaper reported.
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