While residential real estate appreciation continues to trend higher, the rapid pace experienced early last year is easing, Veros Real Estate Solutions said in its latest VeroFORECAST report.
The real estate market forecast looks ahead for the 12-month period ending Dec. 31, 2014. The forecast covers more than 1,000 counties, 345 metro areas and 13,770 zip codes.
The company expects 5.1% appreciation over the next 12 months, rising from a 4.8% forecast last quarter and marking the sixth consecutive quarter where the index has shown forecast appreciation.
"The continued appreciation demonstrates the overall health of the real estate market, but it is important to note that this is just a slight increase from last quarter's national forecast, indicating much slowing in the forecasted rate of increase," said Eric Fox, Veros’ vice president of statistical and economic modeling.
California dominates the list of cities experiencing strong price appreciation.
The top five markets include San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.; and Midland, Texas.
On the other side, the five weakest markets in terms of price appreciation include Atlantic City, N.J.; Kingston, N.Y.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Norwich-New London, Conn.; and Rockford, Ill.
"Currently, most areas in the country are expected to see price appreciation with few areas forecast to show declines," Fox concluded.
