March home prices rise 10.5%

CoreLogic: March home prices rise 10.5% year over year

IRVINE, Calif. – May 7, 2013 – The March CoreLogic HPI (Home Price Index) report released today finds that prices nationwide increased 10.5 percent year-over-year in March – the biggest yearly increase since March 2006, and the 13th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally.

On a month-over-month basis home prices increased 1.9 percent in March.

CoreLogic breaks its home sales statistics into two categories: Sales prices that include distressed home sales, and sales prices after backing out distressed sales. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

In Florida, home sales, including distressed, rose 8 percent year to year and 1.2 percent month to month. Compared to the state’s high point for home sale prices in September 2006, home prices are down 42.8 percent.

With distressed sales backed out of the calculation, Florida home prices rose 10.1 percent year to year, and 2 percent month to month. That’s slightly lower than the national non-distressed home price increases of 10.7 percent year to year, and 2.4 percent month to month.

According to CoreLogic’s analysis of pending home sales, it predicts prices will rise in April 9.6 percent year to year. Excluding distressed sales from the numbers, it predicts prices will rise 12 percent year to year and 2.7 percent month to month. Pending prices are based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data.

“For the first time since March 2006, both the overall index and the index that excludes distressed sales are above 10 percent year over year,” says Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The pace of appreciation has been accelerating throughout 2012 and so far in 2013.”

“Much of the price increases … are the result of rising demand among investors and homebuyers for a still-limited supply of homes for sale,” adds Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.