October Home Prices Maintain Trend of Slow but Steady Gains

12/03/2013BY: TORY BARRINGER

Home prices just barely bumped up in October compared to September, keeping the trend going for slow month-to-month improvements.

CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) report for October shows the national home price (including distressed sales) rising 0.2 percent from September, edging just above the company’s predictions from last month. Year-over-year, the national price increased 12.5 percent, marking the 20th straight month of annual price increases nationally.

Removing distressed sales, home prices increased 0.4 percent month-over-month and 11 percent year-over-year in October.

“In terms of home price appreciation, the housing market appears to be catching its breath as we head into the final months of 2013,” said CoreLogic president and CEO Anand

Nallathambi. “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.”

Including distressed sales, the states with the highest price appreciation in October were Nevada (+25.9 percent), California (+22.4 percent), Georgia (+14.2 percent), Michigan (+14.1 percent), and Arizona (+14 percent). Only one state reported depreciation: New Mexico (-0.5 percent).

Taking distressed sales out of the equation, the list of the top states mostly comprised those struggling from low inventory and what’s left of the post-crash fallout: Nevada (+22.5 percent), California (+18.5 percent), Utah (+13.3 percent), Florida (+13 percent), and New York (+12.4 percent). No states posted price depreciation with distressed sales excluded.

For November, CoreLogic’s Pending HPI projects home prices (including distressed sales) will sit at roughly the same level as October, with an anticipated year-over-year increase of 12.2 percent.

“Based on our pending HPI, the monthly growth rate is expected to moderate even further in November and December,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for the company. “The slowdown in price appreciation is positive for the housing market as almost half the states are now within 10 percent of their respective historical price peaks.”