Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Nearly Half of States Within Reach of Peak Home Prices


Twenty-three states are within 10 percent of their 2006 home price peaks, CoreLogic reports in its latest housing data report reflecting October data.

Home prices have increased 12.5 percent year-over-year. However, prices had a more modest month-over-month gain of 0.2 percent from September to October. CoreLogic’s Home Price Index also reflects distressed sales.

“In terms of home price appreciation, the housing market appears to be catching its breath as we head into the final months of 2013,” says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The deceleration in month-on-month trends was anticipated as strong gains in home prices over the spring and summer slow in line with normal seasonal patterns and the impact of higher mortgage interest rates.”

The following five states have seen the highest home price appreciation year-over-year:
  • Nevada: +25.9%
  • California: +22.4%
  • Georgia: +14.2%
  • Michigan: +14.1%
  • Arizona: +14%
The only state in the CoreLogic index that has seen prices fall is New Mexico, where home prices fell 0.5 percent year-over-year.

Soaring home prices are allowing more states to catch up to their home price peaks in 2006. Sixteen states are all within 5 percent or less of their peak home prices: Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming, and Alaska.

“The slowdown in appreciation is positive for the housing market as almost half the states are now within 10 percent of their respective historical price peaks,” says Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

Meanwhile, the following five states remain the furthest from their peak values as of October, according to CoreLogic:
  • Nevada: -40.7%
  • Florida: -37.4%
  • Arizona: -31.5%
  • Rhode Island: -29.3%
  • West Virginia: -28%
The National Association of REALTORS® recently reported that its existing-home sales index saw home prices tick up 12.8 percent in October year-over-year. A persistent tight inventory of homes for sale is holding back sales but pushing up home prices in most areas of the country, Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in the report.

--REALTOR® Magazine Daily News

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