U.S. home prices rose 1.1% in January compared to December and were up 5.7% compared to January 2014, according to CoreLogic's home price index (HPI) report.
As of January, home prices had increased for 35 consecutive months, according to the report, which includes distressed sales.
Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia were at or within 10% of their peak in January. Four states, New York, Wyoming, Texas and Colorado, reached new highs in the HPI since January 1976, when the index starts.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.4% compared to December and 5.6% compared to January 2014.
CoreLogic forecasts that home prices, including distressed sales, will increase 0.4% month over month from January to February and by 5.3% year over year from January 2015 to January 2016.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices are forecast to increase 0.3% month over month and by 4.9% year over year.
‘House price appreciation has generally been stronger in the western half of the nation and weakest in the mid-Atlantic and northeast states,’ says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic, in a release. ‘In part, these trends reflect the strength of regional economies. Colorado and Texas have had stronger job creation and have seen 8 to 9 percent price gains over the past 12 months in our combined indexes. In contrast, values were flat or down in Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland in our overall index, including distressed sales.’
‘We continue to see a strong and progressive uptick in home prices as we enter 2015. We project home prices will continue to rise throughout the year and into 2016,’ adds Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. ‘A dearth of supply in many parts of the country is a big factor driving up prices. Many homeowners have taken advantage of low rates to refinance their homes, and until we see sustained increases in income levels and employment they could be hunkered down so supplies may remain tight. Demand has picked up as low mortgage rates and the cut in the FHA annual insurance premium reduce monthly payments for prospective home buyers.’
Including distressed sales, states that saw the highest rates of home price appreciation in January, year over year, were Colorado (9.1%), Michigan (9.0%), Texas (8.3%), Wyoming (8.3%) and Nevada (7.6%).