Home Prices Rise Again According to Latest CoreLogic Report

CoreLogic reported this morning that June home prices nationwide were up 2.5 percent compared to those one year earlier.

The company's Home Price Index (HPI) which includes sales of distressed properties also rose by 1.3 percent in June compared to the May figure.  This marks the fourth consecutive month that prices have gone up on both a monthly and annual basis.  Distressed properties are defined as short sales and sales of bank-owned properties (REO.)

The HPI that excludes these distressed property sales increased 3.2 percent year-over-year in June and 2.0 percent month over month; the fifth consecutive month where a month over month increase was noted.

CoreLogic projects that its July HPI including distressed sales will increase by at least 0.4 percent from June and 2.0 percent on an annual basis and excluding distressed sales it will be up by 1.4 percent and 4.3 percent for the two time periods.  CoreLogic's forward leaning index is based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data that measures price changes in the most recent month.

"Home prices are responding positively to reductions in both visible and shadow inventory over the past year," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "This trend is a bright spot because the decline in shadow inventory translates to fewer distressed sales, which helps sustain price appreciation."

"At the halfway point, 2012 is increasingly looking like the year that the residential housing market may have turned the corner," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "While first-half gains have given way to second-half declines over the past three years, we see encouraging signs that modest price gains are supportable across the country in the second-half of 2012."

The Index for overall sales by state increased the most in Arizona (+13.8 percent,) Idaho (+10.4 percent,), and South Dakota (+10.1 percent.)  Excluding distressed sales, the states with the highest appreciation were: South Dakota (+10.2 percent), Utah (+9.1 percent), and Montana (+8.7 percent).

The worst performing states overall were Alabama (-4.8 percent), Connecticut (-4.0 percent), and Illinois (-3.4 percent) and excluding distressed sales, Delaware (-3.6 percent), Alabama (-3.1 percent), and Connecticut (-2.1 percent),

Of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 27 are showing year-over-year declines in June, five fewer than in May.

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