Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 3.8% in July compared to July 2011, according to the latest home price index (HPI) released by Santa Ana, Calif.-based CoreLogic. This was the biggest year-over-year increase since August 2006.
On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, CoreLogic reports that home prices increased by 1.3% in July compared to June. The July figures mark the fifth consecutive increase in home prices nationally on both a year-over-year and month-over-month basis.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased on a year-over-year basis by 4.3% in July compared to July 2011. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.7% in July, which was also the fifth consecutive month-over-month increase.
The CoreLogic Pending HPI indicates that August home prices, including distressed sales, will rise by 4.6% on a year-over-year basis from August 2011 and will rise by at least 0.6% on a month-over-month basis from July. Excluding distressed sales, August house prices are also poised to rise 6% year-over-year from August 2011 and by 1.3% month-over-month from July.
‘The housing market continues its positive trajectory with significant price gains in July and our expectation of a further increase in August,’ says Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. ‘While the pace of growth is moderating as we transition to the off-season for home buying, we expect a positive gain in price levels for the full year.’