December Home Prices Up 11% from 2012

Author: Colin Robins February 4, 2014 

CoreLogic released its Home Price Index (HPI) for December 2013, noting an 11 percent bump since December 2012. The figure includes distressed sales.
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, was optimistic about the future: "After six years of fits and starts, we can now see a clearer path to a durable recovery in single-family residential housing across most of the United States."
The company is equally bullish about prices in January, projecting a 10.2 percent year-over-year gain.
Month-by-month, prices saw a 0.1 percent decline from November, falling in line with predictions CoreLogic made in its previous HPI report.
Looking ahead, the company’s year-to-year assessment indicates a possible rise and subsequent stabilization of home prices.
"Last year, home prices rose 11 percent, the highest rate of annual increase since 2005, and 10 states and the District of Columbia reached new all-time price peaks," said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "We expect the rising prices to attract more sellers, unlocking this pent-up supply, which will have a moderating effect on prices in 2014."
The five states with the highest home price appreciation were Nevada (+23.9 percent), California (+19.7 percent), Michigan (+14.0 percent), Oregon (+13.7 percent), and Georgia (+12.8 percent).
Including distressed sales, Arkansas (-1.5 percent), New Mexico (-1.3 percent), and Mississippi (-0.2 percent) were the only three states to post home price depreciation in December, 2013. Excluding distressed sales, no states posted home price depreciation in December.