Figures for the Case-Shiller Home Price Index through December 2014 show that single-family home prices (seasonally adjusted) appreciated 2% in New York in 2014, compared with 4.5% nationally. The appreciation happened in the first and last quarters of the year and compensated for six consecutive months of price depreciation between March and September, with a similar trend occurring nationally.

All cities ended the year with slower annual growth than they started it off, indicating that home prices tapered substantially in 2014. San Francisco saw annual home prices increase 23.2% in January, but ended the year with a 9.4% increase -the highest of all cities measured by the Index. Chicago was down from 10.9% in January to just 1.4% in December, the lowest of all cities. New York went from 6.7% in January to 2% in December, and the 20-city composite index showed price gains decline from 13.2% to 4.5%.

In general, cities in the South and the West ended 2014 with higher price increases than cities in the North East and the Midwest. San Francisco’s 9.4% increase was followed by Miami (8.5%), Denver (8.1%), Dallas (7.5%), and Las Vegas (6.9%). The cities with the lowest price increases were New York (2%), Minneapolis (1.9%), Cleveland (1.5%), Washington, DC (1.5%), and Chicago (1.4%). December’s figures put prices in the New York City region at 81% of their peak in April 2006, while nationally home prices stood at 84% of their April 2006 peak.