Detroit-based Quicken Loans, the nation's second largest retail mortgage lender, today reported that its October 2014 Home Value Index (HVI) shows home values continuing to climb nationally, and in the majority of metro areas.  

Home values continued to climb nationally, increasing 2.03 percent from September to October 2014 and climbing 3.35 percent since October 2013, according to the Home Value Index (HVI). More than half of the metro areas assessed also saw monthly increases, and nearly 90 percent of the metro areas' home values have increased in the past year.   

The South and Northeast regions of the country showed the strongest home appreciation in October with the West showing a slight increase and the Midwest being flat.  Houston, San Jose, New York City and Charlotte showed the largest month-over-month gains while Chicago, Boston, Portland and Minneapolis showed significant month-over-month depreciation from the weakening housing markets in those metropolitan areas.

"The vast majority of the country is seeing steady, single-digit, home value increases. This is the healthy momentum we look for in a stable housing market," said Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters. "In most markets, home values are making up the ground they lost during the recession."

In Quicken Loans' groundbreaking Home Price Perception Index (HPPI), appraisers' opinions of home values in October were 1.58 percent higher than homeowners', according to the national composite. Appraisers' and homeowners' opinions are more in agreement compared to September 2014, when appraisers valued homes 1.62 percent higher than homeowners estimated. Although in October 2013, the span was significantly closer, showing only a 0.83 percent discrepancy.

"While everyone would like to be pleasantly surprised to find that appraisers think their home is worth more than they thought, in reality, it is best for homeowner estimates to be as close as possible to appraiser estimates," Walters explained. "The closer together the appraiser and homeowner opinions are, the more homeowners are understanding what is happening to their local housing market. Whether homeowners are looking to sell soon, hoping to refinance or applying for a home equity loan – there are many benefits to understanding the current home value trends in their area."

The HVI is a view of home value trends based solely on appraisal data from home purchases and mortgage refinances. This produces a wide data set and is focused on appraisals, one of the most important pieces of information to the mortgage process. The HPPI represents the difference between appraisers' home value opinions and the opinions of homeowners and homebuyers. This is an unprecedented report that gives a never-before-seen analysis of how homeowners are viewing the housing market. 

Both of these reports are created with Quicken Loans' propriety mortgage data from the 50-state lenders' mortgage activity across all 3,000+ counties. The indexes are examined nationally, in four geographic regions and 27 major metropolitan regions. All indexes, along with downloadable tables and graphs can be found at QuickenLoans.com/Indexes.