Where is Real Estate Appreciating & Depreciating?

It's out! Every quarter the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight publishes its "House Price Index (HPI)" showing appreciation rates for the entire country. It is a backward-looking report, since it tells you where appreciation has been , not where it will be, but it is still mandatory reading for every investor.

The report is available at http://www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/2q07hpi.pdf.

If you don't want to read the whole thing, here's the highlights:

Significant HPI Findings:
Highest and Lowest Appreciation:
1. The West South Central and Mountain Census Divisions continue to have thestrongest housing markets. Appreciation over the past four quarters was 6.3percent for the West South Central Division (5.6% for the purchase-only index),which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The appreciationin the Mountain Division was 6.1 percent (6.7% using the purchase-only metric).
2. The New England Census Division continues to have the most anemic houseprice appreciation. Prices grew 0.5 percent there between the second quarterof 2006 and the second quarter of 2007, more than one percentage point less than the second most sluggish Division (East North Central).
3. The states with the greatest appreciation between the second quarter of 2006 and the second quarter of 2007 were: Utah (15.3%), Wyoming (12.8%),Washington (9.1%), Montana (9.1%), and New Mexico (8.8%). The states with price declines for the same period were: Nevada (-1.5%), Michigan (-1.4%),California (-1.4%), Massachusetts (-1.0%), and Rhode Island (-1.0%).
4. The Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the greatest appreciation between the second quarter of 2006 and the second quarter of 2007 were: Wenatchee, Washington (23.5%), Provo-Orem, Utah (18.2%), and Salt LakeCity, Utah (16.0%). The MSAs with the largest price declines for the same period were all in California: Merced, California (-8.7%), Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, California (-8.1%), and Stockton, California (-7.2%).

Other Notable Results:
1. The state price declines over the past year in five states is the largest numberof price declines since 1996-1997.
2. Of the 287 cities on OFHEO’s list of “ranked” MSAs, 226 had positive four quarter appreciation and 61 had price declines.
3. Eighteen of the 20 cities having the lowest four-quarter appreciation rates were in Florida and California. Those cities experienced price declines of between 4.2 and 8.7 percent.