Property prices in the US have risen for the fourth month in a row and are expected to keep on doing so as experts believe the recovery is now under way.
The June Home Price Index report from CoreLogic shows that prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 2.5% on an annual basis in June and 1.3% from the previous month.
The June 2012 figures mark the fourth consecutive increase in home prices nationally on both a year on year and month on month basis.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased on an annual basis by 3.2% and on a monthly basis by 2%, the fifth consecutive month on month increase.
The CoreLogic Pending HPI indicates that July home prices, including distressed sales, will rise by at least 0.4% on a month on month basis and by 2% on a year on year basis.
Excluding distressed sales, July house prices are also poised to rise by 1.4% on a monthly basis and by 4.3% year on year. The CoreLogic Pending HPI is a new and exclusive metric that provides the most current indication of trends in home prices. It is based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data that measure price changes in the most recent month.
‘Home prices are responding positively to reductions in both visible and shadow inventory over the past year,’ said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.
‘This trend is a bright spot because the decline in shadow inventory translates to fewer distressed sales, which helps sustain price appreciation,’ he added.
At the halfway point, 2012 is increasingly looking like the year that the residential housing market may have turned the corner, according to Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive officer of CoreLogic.
‘While first half gains have given way to second half declines over the past three years, we see encouraging signs that modest price gains are supportable across the country in the second half of 2012,’ he explained.
Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were Arizona up 13.8%, Idaho up 10.4%, South Dakota up 10.1%, Utah up 8.3% and Wyoming up 7.7%.
Including distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were Alabama down 4.8%, Connecticut down 4%, Illinois down 3.4%, Georgia down 2.9% and Delaware down 2.8%.
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were South Dakota down 10.2%, Utah down 9.1%, Montana and Arizona both down 8.7% and Wyoming down 6.9%.
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were Delaware down 3.6%, Alabama down 3.1%, Connecticut down 2.1%, New Jersey down 0.9% and Kentucky down 0.4%.
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