Home prices increased by 10.1% in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the second quarter of 2012, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index, which is based on the firm's multiple listing service data culled from more than 380 U.S. markets, as well as the CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices.
What's more, prices are up 16% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, which is when they bottomed, the firm reports.
However, the data and analytics firm is forecasting that price appreciation will slow in 2014.
‘Combined with increased housing construction, expected increases in existing inventories should restrain price appreciation even if demand remains strong,’ says Dr. David Stiff, principal economist for CoreLogic Case-Shiller, in a statement. ‘Nevertheless, the rate of home price growth in the coming months will remain above its long-term average of 4.5 percent annual appreciation since 1975.’
Although prices are now rising in nearly 90% of metro areas, and in all metro areas with populations greater than 1 million, the firm predicts that the rate of appreciation will slow to an average of 5.4% across all U.S. markets in the first half of 2014.
"The strongest growth continues to be recorded in cities that were at the center of the housing bubble, but investor demand in those markets appears to be waning, meaning rapid rates of price appreciation are likely unsustainable," Stiff says.
Metro areas that saw the biggest drops in home prices – such as Sacramento, Calif.; Las Vegas; and Phoenix – are now seeing the biggest gains.
Despite tight mortgage lending conditions and slow job-market gains, purchases by first-time and trade-up buyers are up, according to CoreLogic. In addition, demand from investors is weakening, as fewer distressed properties are listed for sale and rising home prices cut into potential rental profits.
At the same time, the overall supply of homes for sale is still rising in many metro areas as current homeowners take advantage of favorable sellers' markets.
Data shows that home prices continued to rise in the third quarter. According to the Dow Jones S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices increased 12.8% in August, compared to August 2012, bringing prices back to mid-2004 levels.
On a month-over-month basis, the 10-city and 20-city composites gained 1.3% in August, according to the Dow Jones index. Las Vegas led with an increase of 2.9% – the highest it has seen since August 2004. Detroit and Los Angeles followed with gains of 2%, according to the data.
The data more or less jibes with Lender Processing Services (LPS) HPI report, which shows that home prices increased by 0.4% in August compared to July. That brought the average home price in the U.S. to $231,000, according to LPS.
Similarly, the LPS home price index report for August shows that home prices increased about 8% compared to December 2012 (when the average home price was $214,000) and about 9% compared to August 2012 (when the average home price was $212,000).
States with the biggest month-over-month gains in home prices for August include Nevada (1.4%), Florida (1%), Michigan (1%), Minnesota (0.8%), North Dakota (0.7%), Maryland (0.7%), Hawaii (0.7%), Wisconsin (0.7%), Idaho (0.6%) and New Hampshire (0.6%).
The LPS HPI combines the company's property and loan-level databases to produce a repeat sales analysis of home prices as of their transaction dates for each of more than 18,500 U.S. ZIP codes.