Not only have home prices been on the rise for the ninth straight quarter, but they are starting to creep closer to being more expensive than ever.

According to the latest Zillow Home Value Forecast, home values grew 5.7% year-over-year in the first quarter, with declines experienced in the recession almost gone or close to being erased in almost 20% of metro housing markets nationwide.

Home values nationwide grew .5% from the fourth quarter of 2013, and are expected to increase another 3.3% through the first quarter of 2015.

“The lows of the housing recession are becoming an increasingly distant memory as home values reach new highs and homes become more expensive than ever in many areas. This is a remarkable milestone coming only two and a half years after the end of the worst housing recession since the Great Depression, and is a testament to just how robust this housing recovery has been,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries.

Across the U.S., home values are 13.5% below their 2007 peak after falling 22.6% during the recession before bottoming in 2011.

However, the market is almost past this.

So far, 1,080 of the more than 8,700 cities and towns covered by Zillow, with home values already at or expected to reach pre-recession levels in the next year, including in many hard-hit areas.

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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29738-out-with-housing-recovery-in-with-unaffordability