U.S. home prices increased 0.9% in January, compared to December, and were up 12% compared to January 2013, according to CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) report. The figures include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.
January marked the 23rd consecutive month that home prices increased on a year-over-year basis, according to the report.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 0.7%, compared to December, and were up 9.8% compared to January 2013.
In all, 22 states and the District of Columbia were at or within 10% of their peak home prices as of 2006, according to the report.
CoreLogic forecasts that – including distressed sales – home prices will increase about 0.7% in February compared to January. Excluding distressed sales, prices are forecast to rise 1.1%, month over month.
In a release, Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, says the harsh winter weather that slowed home purchases in December and January had little impact on home prices.
"Polar vortices and a string of snowstorms did not manage to weaken house price appreciation in January," he says. "The last time January month-over-month and year-over-year price appreciation was this strong was at the height of the housing bubble in 2006."
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, says, however, that once home shoppers start to emerge from hibernation, home prices will likely march higher.
Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation, year over year, were Nevada (22.2%), California (20.3%), Oregon (14.3%), Michigan (13.7%) and Georgia (13.4%).
Including distressed sales, only Mississippi (-0.3%) posted home price depreciation in January.
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were Nevada (17.2%), California (16.0%), Florida (12.7%), Arizona (11.5%) and Oregon (11.4%).
Excluding distressed sales, no states posted home price depreciation in January.
To download a copy of the report, click here.