Home price appreciation was pretty much flat in December 2013, rising only about 0.1% compared to November, according to Black Knight Financial Services' (formerly Lender Processing Services' data and analytics division) Home Price Index (HPI) report.
The average price of a home in December was $232,000, unchanged from November, but up 8.4% compared to December 2012, when it was $214,000.
What's more, the average home price came within 13.9% of the June 2006 peak, when it was $270,000.
Black Knight notes that 14 of 20 largest states saw marginal month-over-month home price declines in December – an indication that appreciation was starting to stabilize.
States that saw the biggest month-over-month increases in home prices in December included New York (up 0.7%), Florida (up 0.6%), Oklahoma (up 0.4%), Texas (up 0.4%) and Nebraska (up 0.4%). States that saw the biggest declines included Washington (down -0.4%), Hawaii (down -0.4%), North Carolina (down -0.4%), North Dakota (down -0.4%) and Alaska (down -0.8%).
Cities that saw the biggest month-over-month increase in home prices in December included Miami (up 1.2%); Sarasota, Fla. (up 0.9%); Key West, Fla. (up 0.6%); Fort Walton Beach Fla. (up 0.6%); and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (up 0.6%). Cities that saw the largest declines in home prices included Visalia, Calif. (down -0.6%); Baltimore (down -0.7%); Kennewick, Wash. (down -0.7%); Anchorage, Alaska (down -0.7%); and Bellingham, Wash. (down -0.9%).
Based on home sales in 18,500 U.S. ZIP codes, the Black Knight HPI represents the price of non-distressed sales by taking into account price discounts for real estate owned properties and short sales.