The pace of home value declines further accelerated in January with monthly home value depreciation reaching 1.2% and annual depreciation hitting 7.3%. This rate of monthly depreciation is the highest seen in the national index since December 2008 (see Figure 2). The median home value nationally in January was $172,182, down 28.2% from its peak in June 2006 (see Figure 1).

Of the 131 metropolitan regions with a Zillow Home Value Index in January, 124 metros experienced year-over-year declines in home values (95%), four metros saw annual increases (3%), and three metros were flat from year-ago levels (2%). The markets experiencing the largest annual declines in home values included Ocala, Pueblo, Mobile, Flagstaff, Atlanta, Spokane, and Detroit. See the interactive chart below for data on all 131 metro areas.

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The “Green Cities Index” ranks metro areas on a variety of environmental factors, including traffic congestion, transit use, water quality, carbon emissions, LEED-certified projects and number of “green” jobs.

The index was compiled by the Business Courier of Cincinnati, which is owned by American City Business Journals, the parent company of the Portland Business Journal.

The index draws on data from a variety of government and research agencies.

For the index, the paper evaluated the 40 markets in which American City Business Journals publishes newspapers, plus Los Angeles, where the company operates a business-news Web site, and Indianapolis and Cleveland.

The index looked at such variables as commuting habits of residents, travel time and fuel use, and air and water quality.

Second on the Green Cities list was the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif., area. Honolulu ranked third. Austin, Texas, and Boston rounded out the top five.

The Portland region received high rankings for having the second most LEED-certified building projects in the country and for having minimal sprawl — Portland ranked fourth in the sprawl index behind San Francisco, Boston and Honolulu.

Portland’s poorest showing came in the ranking for commute travel time, where it came in 21st. At 19th, Austin was the only metro area in the green top five with a better travel-time ranking.

The city with the No. 1 travel time ranking was Wichita, Kan. Not surprisingly, Witchita ranked No. 43 for use of public transportation. Portland ranked eighth for public use.

via Portland ranked greenest U.S. city – Portland Business Journal:.