Which Regions are Moving in What Direction?

The latest S&P/Case-Schiller Home Price report was released last week. Case-Schiller measures the residential housing market, tracking changes in the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States. I was curious to see what regions were starting to reverse trends and move upwards.

Here are the top 20, listed in order of increase/decrease since January 09.

1. Dallas +7.20%
2. San Francisco +6.06%
3. Denver +5.94%
4. Cleveland +4.22%
5. Washington DC +3.84%
6. Boston +3.35%
7. San Diego +3.32%
8. Minneapolis +1.88%
9. Atlanta +1.57%
10. Los Angeles -0.01%
11. Charlotte -0.16%
12. Chicago -0.19%
13. TOP 20 Composite -0.24%
    
14. Portland -2.22%
15. Seattle -3.23%
16. New York -3.46%
17. Tampa -4.03%
18. Miami -6.80%
19. Phoenix -8.03%
20. Detroit -8.34%
21. Las Vegas -18.77%

Since January 09, the top 10 regions on the list above have either stabilized or have started to actually increase according to Case-Schiller. While this isn't the only data to analyze when determining if a market is worthy of investment, it's a good place to start. These top markets are starting to claw their way out of the 2008 hole and trend upwards.

Since it's impossible to correctly pinpoint the exact bottom of any market without hindsight or a good set of tarot cards, a good time to buy is when the market starts it's upswing. I'd say these top 10 markets are worthy of further consideration.