The January reading for San Diego was +0.71%, and we almost matched it in February with a +0.72% increase.  The year-over-year change was +4.7%.

Downer Dave said,

“Home prices continue to rise and outpace both inflation and wage gains,” said David M. Blitzer.  “The S&P/Case-Shiller National Index has seen 34 consecutive months with positive year-over-year gains; all 20 cities have shown year-over-year gains every month since the end of 2012.  While prices are certainly rebounding, only two cities – Denver and Dallas – have surpassed their housing boom peaks.

“A better sense of where home prices are can be seen by starting in January 2000, before the housing boom accelerated, and looking at real or inflation adjusted numbers.  Based on the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, prices rose 66.8% before adjusting for inflation from January 2000 to February 2015; adjusted for inflation, this is 27.9%, or a 1.7% annual rate.

The highest price gain over the last 15 years was in Los Angeles with a 4.3% real annual rate; the lowest was Detroit with a -3.6% real annual rate (San Diego is +4.12%).  While nationally, prices are recovering, new construction of single family homes remains very weak despite low vacancy rates among both renters and owner-occupied homes.”

From cnbc:

The S&P/Case-Shiller’s 20-City Composite gained 5 percent year-over-year in February, compared with a 4.5 percent increase in January.

Denver led the gains with a 10-percent increase in home prices in the last 12 months, marking the first double-digit gain for the city since August 2013. San Francisco, where values appreciated 9.8 percent from February 2014, saw the largest acceleration in prices.

Only San Diego, Las Vegas, and Portland saw the pace of increases slow from the previous year.

This chart of annual changes shows how the frenzy has tapered off since 2013: