U.S. home prices, including distressed sales, increased 2% in March compared to February and increased 5.9% compared to March 2014, according to CoreLogic's home price index (HPI) report.
As of March, home prices had increased year over year for 37 consecutive months.
Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia were at or within 10% of their peak prices in March. Seven states, including Colorado, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming, reached new highs in the HPI since January 1976, when the index began.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 2% compared to February and 6.1% compared to March 2014. Only New Mexico (0.4%) showed year-over-year depreciation in March.
CoreLogic forecasts that home prices, including distressed sales, will increase 0.8% month over month from March to April and 5.1% year over year from March 2015 to March 2016.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices are expected to increase 0.7% month over month and 4.7% year over year.
‘The homes for sale inventory continues to be limited while buyer demand has picked up with low mortgage rates and improving consumer confidence,’ says Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. ‘As a result, there has been continued upward pressure on prices in most markets, with our national monthly index up two percent for March 2015 and up approximately six percent from a year ago.’
‘All signs are pointing toward continued price appreciation throughout 2015. In fact, the strong month-over-month gain in March may be a harbinger of accelerating price appreciation as we enter the spring selling season,’ says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. ‘Tight inventories, job growth and the inexorable impact of demographics and household formation are pushing price levels in many states, and especially large metropolitan areas, [such as] Dallas, Denver, Houston, Seattle and San Francisco, toward record levels.’
States with the highest home price appreciation, including distressed sales, were Colorado (9.2%), South Carolina (9.1%), Kansas (8%), Texas (8%) and Nevada (7.6%).