Did you buy a home in 2012? Congratulations

Prices have doubled since that date, another national list Bay Area tops

If you bought a Bay Area home in 2012, pat yourself on the back.

You almost certainly doubled your investment, just by sleeping in your own bed.

Home values across the country have boomed in the aftermath of the Great Recession a decade ago, but nowhere are values higher than in the Bay Area.

New research released Thursday by real estate website Trulia shows homes in the San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco metro areas have more than doubled in value since 2012.

The cities ranked three of the top four in the country for appreciation: San Jose (122 percent) led the way, followed by Las Vegas (114 percent), Oakland (108 percent) and San Francisco (101 percent). By comparison, the S&P 500 index during that stretch rose 87 percent.

Nationally, home values have grown 45 percent since 2012, when they hit bottom across the U.S.

“Things are considerably different in the Bay

Area,” said Trulia housing economist Felipe Chacon, author of the report.

The rocket fuel for rising Bay Area home values has been a mixture of booming job growth — more than 14 percent — and few building

permits issued for new homes. Depending on the city, one new building permit was issued for every two to four new people moving into the area during the period. That’s far below the national average of roughly one permit for every 1.6 new residents.

The median sale price for a Bay Area home in August was $890,000 for the ninecounty

region, according to real estate data company CoreLogic. Sale prices have been on a record tear, climbing every month, year-overover, since April 2012.

Homes in Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties had median sale prices over $1.3 million in August.

Chacon believes the Bay Area’s population growth

would have been even more rapid if not for the high cost of living driven by a dearth of new housing. He added that building permits had recently started to rise in the Bay Area, but still remain far below the national average.

The populations in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland grew by between 5 and 6 percent, well behind fastgrowing Austin, Texas (15

percent), Houston (11.5 percent), Dallas (10.9 percent) and Seattle (9.1 percent).

But while the growth in home values has been a boon for owners, the business community and some state lawmakers believe the shortage has reached a crisis. They urge more permissive zoning and faster OKs for affordable housing.

The Silicon Valley Leadership

Group has set housing as a top priority, and is supporting a campaign for a $4 billion bond aimed at creating affordable housing for low-income residents and veterans.

State lawmakers expect to add more bills in the coming session promoting higher density around transit hubs and more construction of affordable housing.