Home Prices in Texas, Colorado Hit New Highs in June

As national home prices recover, Texas and Colorado are already busy setting new highs, data from ""Lender Processing Services, Inc."":http://www.lpsvcs.com/Pages/default.aspx (LPS) revealed.

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In June, national home prices rose to $229,000, representing a 1.2 percent gain from May, and a sharp 8.4 percent increase from a year ago, according to LPS' Home Price Index (HPI). When compared to the index's 2005 peak of $270,000, prices are still down 15.2 percent.

However, Colorado and Texas moved ahead of the national trend and hit new highs of $256,000 and $182,000, respectively.

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On the other hand, California saw a 19.6 percent annual jump in prices, but remains 26.3 percent below its peak. Arizona also saw a significant increase over the last year in June. Prices in the state rose 13.9 percent, but are 32.8 percent away from the peak value.

Out of the 40 large metro areas LPS tracks, three in Texas reached new highs: Austin ($237,000), Dallas ($182,000), and Houston ($181,000). Denver also established a new high-water mark of $265,000.

At the same time, San Antonio is just 0.3 percent below its August 2007 peak, while Honolulu sits 2.1 percent below its 2007 peak.

Overall, nearly half, or 19, of the 40 large metro areas experienced double-digit annual gains, LPS reported.

Las Vegas led with a 27 percent increase, followed by San Francisco (+23.9 percent), Sacramento (+23.9 percent), San Jose (+20.1 percent) and Riverside, CA (+19.8 percent).

When factoring in distressed sales, LPS found short sales sold for a discount of 25 percent, while REOs were marked down by 26 percent. Discounts varied greatly by state, with Nevada seeing REO discounts of only 8 percent compared to 36 in New York.