Home Prices Increase for First Time Since Mid-2010

June 1, 2011 (Chris Moore)

For the first time since the end of the home buyer tax credit in mid-2010, home prices have increased on a month-over-month basis according to CoreLogic’s April Home Price Index (HPI). The 0.7 percent increase in home prices from March to April was a small victory for a housing market that has been battered by a flood of distressed properties.

The influence of those distressed properties over the past year continues to take its toll on housing prices. Including distressed property sales, home prices were 7.5 percent lower in April 2011 compared to April 2010, but by excluding distressed property sales, home prices would only be 0.5 percent lower than they were a year earlier.

Compared to the market peak in April 2006, home prices have declined 33.8 percent when including distressed property sales and when excluding distressed property sales, home prices have dropped 21.9 percent since the market peak.

CoreLogic defines distressed property sales as short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

“While the economic recovery is still fragile and one data point is not a trend, the month-over-month increase based on April sales activity is a positive sign. This is the first month-over-month increase in the HPI since government support for home buying was removed, and it provides reason for cautious optimism,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.
Ninety-two out of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) experienced year over year price declines in April 2011, a slight increase from the 91 CBSAs showing year-over-year price declines in March 2011.

The five states with the highest appreciation including distressed sales were: North Dakota (+4.2 percent), Vermont (+3.4 percent), New York (+3.2 percent), The District of Columbia (+2.2 percent) and Mississippi (+1.4 percent).

The five states with the highest appreciation excluding distressed sales were: West Virginia (+8.4 percent), South Carolina (+6.1 percent), Hawaii (+5.8 percent), Mississippi (+5.0 percent) and North Dakota (+4.5 percent).

The five states with the greatest depreciation including distress sales were: Idaho (-15.2 percent), Michigan (-13.2 percent), Arizona (-11.9 percent), Rhode Island (-11.6 percent) and Nevada (-11.4 percent).

The five states with the greatest depreciation excluding distressed sales were: Nevada (-10.3 percent), Idaho (-9.5 percent), Arizona (-6.0 percent), South Dakota (-5.9 percent) and Minnesota (-5.6 percent).

Tags: CoreLogic, home prices, distressed property sales, appreciation, depreciation, home buyer tax credit

Sources:
CoreLogic