These cities saw the biggest ups and downs in home prices last year

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The highest interest rates in 20 years created a tumultuous year for home prices. 2022 saw record increases in the first six months, followed by a swift slowdown and pullbacks in some areas just months later. 

Changes in median home values were even steeper in markets that boomed in the pandemic era, according to Realtor.com.

"It's the natural reaction to the sharp run-up in prices over the past couple of years now meeting the new, higher mortgage rates this year," said George Ratiu, Realtor.com senior economist and manager of economic research in a statement.

This year looks like it could be much of the same for several more months, with multiple research groups predicting average prices to fall annually during the first half, if not all, of 2023. 

But some locations, mostly in the country's midsection, not only held on to their home-price gains of the 2021, but increased them further. Found in historically more affordable areas, "they offer home buyers a lot of value," Ratiu said.

Realtor.com examined median prices among the country's 100 largest cities in the one-year period between December 2021 and 2022, crunching the numbers to rank markets with the greatest home-price growth and depreciation over the past 12 months. Rankings were limited to cities with the single largest gain and decrease in each state to provide a representative nationwide picture.