Home Prices Turn Negative in Three States

The uninterrupted streakrnof annual nationwide price increases was extended to 34 months in DecemberrnCoreLogic said today.  The company’s HomernPrice Index (HPI) that includes sales of distressed properties (short sales and lender owned realrnestate (REO) was up 5 percentrncompared to December 2013.  There werernsigns of weakness however as three states showed a deterioration inrnyear-over-year prices and the national index including distressed sales dippedrn0.1 percent compared to November.</p

</p

Twenty-seven statesrnand the District of Columbia have seen prices climb back to within 10 percentrnof their pre-housing crisis peak but annual sales including distressed propertiesrnfell in December by 2.2 percent in Connecticut, 0.9 percent in Vermont, and 0.7rnpercent in Maryland.</p

The states with therngreatest December to December growth in the distressed sales HPI were Colorado (+8.4 percent), Texas (+7.8rnpercent), New York (+7.6 percent), Nevada (+7.3 percent) and Michigan (+7.2rnpercent).</p

CoreLogic’s HPI which excludesrndistressed sales increased 4.9 percent in December compared to a year earlier.  The five states with the highest home pricernappreciation were: New York (+8.0 percent), Colorado (+7.8 percent),rnMassachusetts (+7.2 percent), Texas (+7.1 percent) and Nevada (+7.1 percent).  Prices were up 0.1 percent for the month.</p

Sam Khater, CoreLogic’s deputy chiefrneconomist said, “For the full year of 2014, home prices increased 7.4rnpercent, down from an 11.1 percent increase in 2013.  Nationally, home price growth moderated andrnstabilized at 5 percent the last four months of the year. The moderation can bernclearly seen at the state level, with Colorado, Texas and New York at the highrnend of appreciation, ending the year with increases of about 8 percent. Thisrncontrasts with previous appreciation rates in the double digits-for instance,rnNevada and California which experienced increases of more than 20 percentrnearlier in 2014.”</p

CoreLogic’s HPI including distressedrnsales in December was 13.4 percent below the peak it reached in Aprilrn2006.  Excluding distressed transactions,rnthe peak-to-current change in the HPI for the same period was -9.6 percent.  The five states with the largestrnpeak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were: Nevada (-36rnpercent), Florida (-33.5 percent), Arizona (-29.5 percent), Rhode Island (-29.1rnpercent) and Connecticut (-25.2 percent).</p

While 89 of the top 100 Core BasedrnStatistical areas tracked by CoreLogic posted year-over-year increases, 11 sawrndeclines.  Those areas were widelyrnscattered geographically but six were in the Northeast.  The largest losses were suffered by Worcester,rnMassachusetts where prices declined 2.5 percent, Bridgeport-Stanford-Norwalk,rnConnecticut (-2.3 percent) and Baltimore (-1.9 percent).  </p

CoreLogic projects that home pricesrnincluding distressed sales will increase 0.1 percent from December 2014 tornJanuary 2015 and the year-over-year change with be a positive 4.8 percent.  Excluding distressed sales, which arernshrinking in their share of sales and also in their impact on statistics, thernincrease will also be 0.1 percent month over month and the annual increase isrnforecast at 4.5 percent.</p

“Nationally, home pricernappreciation took a pause in November and December 2014 and we expect a slowrnstart to 2015,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.rn”As the year progresses, we expect upward pressure as low inventories andrnmore first-time buyers drive up home prices.”

All Content Copyright © 2003 – 2009 Brown House Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.nReproduction in any form without permission of MortgageNewsDaily.com is prohibited.