Florida markets are dominating national price rankings this winter as demand remains strong for properties still priced far below their 2007 peaks.

Florida and New York led gains among the states with 0.8 percent month-over-month appreciation I the Black Knight HPI December index and Florida accounted for every one of the top 10 best performing metro areas in December, with Sarasota leading the way at 1.4 percent month-over-month growth.

Nationally, Black Knight reported home prices were up 0.1 percent for the month, and have gained 5.5 percent from one year ago.  At $253,000, the national level HPI remains 5.3 percent off its June 2006 peak of $268K, and up 27 percent from the market’s bottom in January 2012

Separately, the Florida Association of Realtors announced today that nearly half of the Realtors in U.S. and Canada – some 500,000 real estate professionals – now have access to its Tech Helpline service that provides technical support services for a wide range of software and hardware, from smartphones and tablets to desktops, laptops, email problems, virus issues and more.