Hottest Home Price Appreciation Prior to Spring Selling Season in 9 Years

Home prices includingrndistressed sales increased again in February on both a monthly and an annualrnbasis CoreLogic said on Tuesday.  Its nationwidernHome Price Index (HPI) rose by 1.1 percent in February compared to the previousrnmonth and was 5.6 percent higher than in February 2014.  The latter number marks three full years ofrnconsecutive annual price increases.</p

“Since the second half ofrn2014, the dwindling supply of affordable inventory has led to stabilization inrnhome price growth with a particular uptick in low-end home price growth overrnthe last few months,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “FromrnFebruary 2014 to February 2015, low-end home prices increased by 9.3 percentrncompared to 4.8 percent for high-end home prices, a gap that is three times thernaverage historical difference.”</p

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Connecticut with arn-0.9 percent change in its HPI was the only state that did not post an annual increase.  The best performers on the HPI includingrndistressed sales were Colorado (+9.8 percent), South Carolina (+9.3), Michigan (+8.5rnpercent), Texas (+8.5 percent) and Wyoming (+8.4 percent).  </p

Twenty six states andrnthe District of Columbia were at or within 10 percent of their price peaks inrnFebruary and six states, Colorado (+9.8 percent), New York (+8.2 percent), NorthrnDakota (+7.7 percent), Texas (+8.5 percent), Wyoming (+8.4 percent) andrnOklahoma (+5.2 percent), reached the highest prices in CoreLogic’s HPI historyrnwhich dates back to January 1976.  The five states with the largest peak-to-currentrndeclines, including distressed transactions, were: Nevada (-35.4 percent),rnFlorida (-32.4 percent), Rhode Island (-29.6 percent), Arizona (-28.4 percent)rnand Connecticut (-24.7 percent).</p

On the HPI whichrnexcludes distressed sales home prices increased by 5.8 percent in February 2015rncompared to February 2014 and by 1.5 percent month over month. Every state and thernDistrict of Columbia showed year-over-year home price appreciation in February.  The five states with the highest price appreciation onrnthis index were: South Carolina (+9.7 percent), New York (+9.2 percent),rnColorado (+9 percent), Texas (+7.9 percent) and Florida (+7.8 percent).</p

CoreLogic forecasts that its HPIrnincluding distressed sales will increase by 0.6 percent from February 2015 tornMarch 2015 and will post an annual increase of 5.1 percent from February 2015rnto February 2016.  Excluding distressedrnsales home prices are projected to increase by 0.5 percent on a monthly basisrnand 4.8 percent for the year.  The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home pricesrnusing the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived fromrnstate-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number ofrnowner-occupied households for each state.</p

“This is the hottest homernprice appreciation prior to the spring selling season in nine years,” saidrnAnand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Assuming a benign interestrnrate environment and continued strong consumer confidence, we expect home pricesrnto rise by an additional five percent over the next twelve months.”</p

Ninety-two of the top 100 CorernBased Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population showed year-over-yearrnincreases in January 2015. The eight CBSAs that declined were: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson;rnPhiladelphia; Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford; New Orleans-Metairie;rnRochester, New York; Worcester, Massachusetts, Albany-Schenectady-Troy; and NewrnHaven-Milford, Connecticut.

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