U.S. home prices increased by only 0.2% in September compared to August, according to CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI).
The slight rise indicates that – although prices are expected to rise slightly during the fourth quarter – home prices are starting to stabilize.
The report shows that home prices have increased 12% from September 2012 to September of this year. This September marked the 19th consecutive month that prices increased on a year-over-year basis.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 0.3% on a month-over-month basis and increased 10.8% on a year-over-year basis.
CoreLogic anticipates that its next HPI will show that home prices remained relatively flat through October, rising only by 0.1% on a month-over-month basis.
‘September marked the unofficial five-year anniversary of the start of the housing crisis,’ says Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. ‘The five-year home price appreciation for all homes in the nation was 3.4 percent. While there is still room for improvement, the CoreLogic HPI is at the highest level since May 2008.’
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, adds ‘home prices in nearly half the states are now within striking distance of their pre-downturn pricing peaks.’
‘We are seeing a slowdown in the rate of price appreciation over the past few months from the rapid pace experienced over the first half of this year,’ Nallathambi says. ‘This deceleration is natural and should help keep market fundamentals in balance over the longer term.’
According to the CoreLogic HPI, states with the highest home price appreciation in September included Nevada (+25.3%), California (+22.5%), Arizona (+14.6%), Georgia (+14.4%) and Michigan (+13.9%) – all states that were hard hit by the housing crisis and thus saw the largest declines in home values. Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation in September included Nevada (+22.4%), California (+18.9%), Utah (+13.2%), Arizona (+12.6%) and Florida (+12.6%).
Regardless of whether distressed sales are included, no states posted home price depreciation in September, CoreLogic reports.
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