(New York, NY) — Home prices in the top 20 markets rose nearly 7% last year. That was the largest yearly gain in the S&P/Case-Shiller index since 2006.

Phoenix led the way with a 23% gain, followed by San Francisco with 14.5%. Las Vegas took third place with an increase of 12.9% over 2011.

Of the twenty metro areas surveyed, New York was the only market where home prices actually dropped in 2012, but only by about a half-percent.

Record low mortgage rates and a smaller supply of homes for sale helped drive up prices last year.