Since the housing crisis national median home prices have been on the rebound, but still haven’t caught up to the peak reached in the third quarter of 2005. At that point, national median home prices reached $227,633. Flash forward nine years later in the third quarter of 2014 and the national median home price remains 4.9 percent below the peak at $216,367, according to National Association of REALTORS®’ data. 
Still, many local markets already have surged ahead of previous peaks. In fact, 87 of the metro areas NAR tracks saw an increase in median home prices in the nine years since the national market’s price peak.
Most notably North Dakota markets, due to an oil and energy boom in the state, have seen median prices climb. In Bismarck, prices have surged 87.2 percent from the third quarter of 2005.
Many Texas markets also are performing above the 2005 peak for many of the same reasons. For example, the Austin-Round Rock area saw its median price in that timeframe climb 47.2 percent; the Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land area is up 39.6 percent; and Amarillo, Texas, is up 35.6 percent.
Several markets in the Midwest (Des Moines: +21.9% and Springfield, Ill.: +21.7%) and along the East Coast (Elmira, N.Y.: +43.2% and the Charlotte area: +31.6%) saw increases to median home prices since the nationwide peak.
On the other hand, many markets still have a long way to go to catch up to the peak. For example, areas in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida that were shaken by big drops during the housing crisis are still on the mend. For example, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., area still is posting prices down 32.1 percent compared to 2005; the Sacramento area is posting a 29.2 percent decrease; and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area of Arizona is showing a 25.2 percent decrease in that timeframe.
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Source: NAR Economist Outlook Blog 12/11/2104
