Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Home Prices Rise for 14th Straight Month

U.S. home prices including distressed sales rose for the 14th straight month in April, posting their highest year-over-year increase in more than seven years, according to analytics firm CoreLogic.

"Increasing demand for new and existing homes, coupled with low inventory, has created a virtuous cycle for price gains, most clearly seen in the Western states with year-over-year gains of 20 percent," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

Home prices (including distressed sales) moved up 3.2 percent in April compared to March, and were up 12.1 percent year-over-year, the CoreLogic HPI found.

The streak of home-value appreciation is set to continue, the firm said, with the CoreLogic Pending HPI - which is based on price changes for the most recent month - predicting that home prices will register a 12.5 percent annual gain in May.

Nevada (up 24.6 percent), California (up 19.4 percent), Arizona (up17.3 percent, Hawaii (up 17 percent) and Oregon (up 15.5 percent) saw the highest price gains in April, CoreLogic reported.

Also to note: The business insider.com reported a dramatic decline in the number of single family homes for sale and saying the market is much leaner. In 2009, single family homes for sale inventory were approximately 3,600,000 - this year that inventory is approximately 1,700,000.


As reported from CoreLogic via Inmannews