U.S. home prices, including distressed sales, increased 1.7% in May compared with April and were up 6.3% compared with May 2014, according to CoreLogic's home price index (HPI) report.
Including distressed sales, 33 states and the District of Columbia were at or within 10% of their peak prices in May.
The District of Columbia and 10 states – Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont – reached new price peaks not experienced since January 1976, when CoreLogic launched it HPI.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.4% compared to April and were up 6.3% compared with May 2014.
Massachusetts and Louisiana were the only states that experienced depreciation, on a year-over-year basis, dropping 2.0% and 0.2%, respectively, excluding distressed sales.
For June, CoreLogic is forecasting that home prices, including distressed sales, will increase by 0.9% compared to May. What's more, the firm predicts that home prices will rise 5.1% by the end of May 2016.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices are projected to increase by 0.8% from May to June and by 4.7% by May 2016.
‘Mortgage rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans remained below four percent through May, helping to fuel home-purchase activity,’ says Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a release. ‘Our homes-for-sale listing data shows that markets with high demand and limited supply, such as San Francisco, are recording double-digit appreciation rates over the past year.’
‘The rate of home price appreciation ticked up in May with gains being fairly widely distributed across the country. Importantly, higher home prices over the past couple of years have spurred increases in new single-family construction,’ adds Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. ‘Sales of newly built homes during the first five months of 2015 were up 23 percent from a year ago, and as rising values build equity for homeowners, we expect to see more existing homes offered for sale in the coming year.’
Including distressed sales, states that saw the highest home price appreciation in May compared to May 2014 were South Carolina (10.3%), Colorado (9.8%), Washington (8.8%), Florida (8.7%) and Nevada (8.3%).
Excluding distressed sales, states with the highest home price appreciation, year over year, included South Carolina (9.6%), Colorado (9.2%), Florida (8.9%), Washington (8.5%) and Oregon (7.9%).
Including distressed sales, states that experienced home price depreciation, year over year, included Massachusetts (-4.8%), Connecticut (-1.8%), Maryland (-1.5%), Mississippi (-1.4%) and Louisiana (-0.8%).
Including distressed transactions, the average home value in the U.S. was within 8.4% of the peak prices seen in April 2006, according to the report.
For more, click here.