Home Prices Rise 4.6 Percent from Last Year, CoreLogic Reports

October 2, 2012

Home prices, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 4.6 percent in August 2012 compared to August 2011, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI).

This change represents the biggest year-over-year increase since July 2006. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 0.3 percent in August 2012 compared to July 2012. The August 2012 figures mark the sixth consecutive increase in home prices nationally on both a year-over-year and month-over-month basis. The HPI analysis from CoreLogic shows that all but six states are experiencing price gains.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased on a year-over-year basis by 4.9 percent in August 2012 compared to August 2011. On a month-over-month basis excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1 percent in August 2012 compared to July 2012, also the sixth consecutive month-over-month increase. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The CoreLogic Pending HPI indicates that September 2012 home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to rise by 5 percent on a year-over-year basis from September 2011 and fall by 0.3 percent on a month-over-month basis from August 2012 as the summer buying season closes out. Excluding distressed sales, September 2012 house prices are poised to rise 6.3 percent year-over-year from September 2011 and by 0.6 percent month-over-month from August 2012. The CoreLogic Pending HPI is a proprietary and exclusive metric that provides the most current indication of trends in home prices. It is based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data that measure price changes in the most recent month.

"Again this month prices rose on a year-over-year basis and our expectation is for that to continue in September based on our pending HPI forecast," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "The housing markets gains are increasingly geographically diverse with only six states continuing to show declining prices."

Highlights as of August 2012

  • Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Arizona (+18.2 percent), Idaho (+10.4 percent), Nevada (+9.0 percent), Utah (+8.9 percent) and Hawaii (+8.0 percent).
  • Including distressed sales, the five states with the greatest home price depreciation were: Rhode Island (-2.6 percent), Illinois (-2.3 percent), New Jersey (-1.4 percent), Alabama (-0.7 percent) and Connecticut (-0.5 percent).
  • Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Arizona (+13.0 percent), Utah (+10.0 percent), Montana (+8.8 percent), Idaho (+8.6 percent) and North Dakota (+7.7 percent).
  • Excluding distressed sales, this month only three states posted home price depreciation: Rhode Island (-1.7 percent), New Jersey (-1.4 percent), Alabama (-0.2 percent).
"Sustained economic recovery in the U.S. requires a healthy housing market. You cannot have a healthy housing market without price stabilization and ultimately home price appreciation," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Improving pricing trends over the past few months and our forecast for continued gains in September bode well for a progressive rebound in the residential housing market."


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