U.S. home prices have been increasing steadily for 22 months, according to CoreLogic.
According to the firm's monthly home price index (HPI) report, home prices, including distressed sales (short sales and real estate owned transactions), increased 11% in December 2013 compared to December 2012.
CoreLogic says December marked the 22nd consecutive month that home prices increased on a year-over-year basis.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 9.9% in December 2013 compared to December 2012.
However, on a month-over-month basis, home prices actually decreased by 0.1% in December, compared to November.
Home price appreciation is expected to continue in the first half of this year: Based on the data it has collected so far, CoreLogic is forecasting that January 2014 home prices, including distressed sales, will increase 10.2%, year over year, compared to January 2013. Excluding distressed sales, January 2014 home prices are poised to rise 9.7%, compared to January 2013.
On a month-over-month basis, home prices are expected to dip 0.8% in January, compared to December. Excluding distressed sales, prices are forecast to rise 0.2% in January, compared to December.
"Last year, home prices rose 11 percent, the highest rate of annual increase since 2005, and 10 states and the District of Columbia reached new all-time price peaks," says Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a release. "We expect the rising prices to attract more sellers, unlocking this pent-up supply, which will have a moderating effect on prices in 2014."
"The healthy and broad-based gains in home prices in 2013 help set the stage for the continued recovery in the housing sector in 2014," adds Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "After six years of fits and starts, we can now see a clearer path to a durable recovery in single-family residential housing across most of the United States."
States that saw the highest home price appreciation, including distressed sales, in December were Nevada (23.9%), California (19.7%), Michigan (14%), Oregon (13.7%) and Georgia (12.8%).
States with the lowest home price appreciation (in fact, depreciation) for December were Arkansas (-1.5%), New Mexico (-1.3%) and Mississippi (-.2%).
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were Nevada (20%), California (16.2%), Idaho (12.8%), Oregon (11.6%) and Florida (11.5%).
Excluding distressed sales, no states posted home price depreciation in December.
Including distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the national HPI (from April 2006 to December 2013) was -18%. Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the HPI for the same period was -13.6%.
The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (-40.6%), Florida (-37.6%), Arizona (-31.8%), Rhode Island (-30.3%) and West Virginia (-25.6%).
Ninety-five of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas measured by population showed year-over-year increases in December.