Last month Zillow published a blog post where it listed those markets that had gained the most equity in home value as the market has bounced back from the bottom of the housing bust. [See Zillow’s Irish Luck or Just Good Timing, These Home Buyers are Rolling in the Green ]
For its list Zillow took a look at, and ranked, the top 35 metropolitan statistical areas. The top five each have recovered over 60 percent since bottoming — with Las Vegas topping the list with its home values increasing an average of 75 percent. See the Top 5 Metro areas below…
- Las Vegas, Nev. — 74.9%
- San Jose, Calf. — 69.2%
- San Francisco, Calif. — 64.4%
- Phoenix, Ariz. — 61.8%
- Miami, Fla. — 60.7%
Because of its relatively smaller population, Reno, Nevada is not one of the country’s top 35 MSAs (metropolitan statistical areas). But if it were included in Zillow’s analysis where would it rank?
According to the footnote on the table included in the piece, Zillow identified the lowest median home value for an area since January 2006 and compared it to it’s current value.
For the Reno-Sparks housing market the lowest monthly median sales price was reached in January 2012 when it bottomed at $135,000. The most recent housing numbers show that Reno-Sparks’ median sales price for the month of March was $296,000.
Today’s $296,000 represents a whopping 119 percent increase from the bottom of 2012. Clearly Reno-Sparks would top Zillow’s list, if included.
