Home values nationally increased at an annualized rate of 5.7 percent during the first quarter of 2002, according to Freddie Mac's quarterly Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index.

Home prices in the mid-Atlantic showed the largest gains among the nation's regions with an annualized rate of 8.3 percent for a gain of 2 percentage points over the fourth quarter of 2001.

Values in the Baltimore metro region increased at an annualized rate of 6.66 percent, a 1 percentage point decrease over the prior quarter.

Annual home price appreciation totaled 6.3 percent nationally, 8.92 percent in the mid-Atlantic and 7.44 percent in the Baltimore region from the first quarter of 2001 through the first quarter of 2002.

Freddie Mac anticipates that the price growth will slow somewhat over the rest of the year, with the average single-family home appreciating between 4 percent and 5 percent.

The growth rate is consistent with the strength in consumer spending and other housing statistics, chief economist Frank Nothaft said.

"Nationally we see no evidence of an asset-price bubble in home values," Nothaft said.