The widely watched Case-Shiller home price index published monthly by Standard & Poor’s was released today for the month ending April 2012 with good news all around! There is always a two-month lag time for the data in this report. The index for the Portland Oregon metro area was measured to be 131.6 at the end of April, which means that the average price for a home in this area is up 31.6% from the January 2000 starting point for the index. According to this index, average prices in the Portland area were UP a strong 2.0% from the prior month of March and down about 0.9% from April 2011. All 20 markets tracked by this index registered a month over month increase which is very encouraging!

The index for the Portland area reached a high of 186.5 in July 2007. The latest reading represents a decline in home prices of approximately 29% from that peak. So a home that was worth $300,000 at the market peak is now worth closer to $213,000 today. Another way to look at the index is that home prices now are close to what they were in August 2004. See the chart below which illustrates what has happened.

Looking at the other markets tracked by the index, Las Vegas and Phoenix continue to have the largest declines off their market peaks of 61% and 52% respectively. The Dallas TX metro area boasts the smallest decline at 8% off their market peak. When looking at the 20 city composite as a whole, the latest index reading is 135.8 and represents an average 34% decline in home values nationwide.