RealEstateEconomyWatch.com

March home prices rose at double digit rates-increasing faster than they have in seven years-and the outlook is nearly as good for April.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 10.5 percent on a year-over-year basis in March 2013 compared to March 2012. This change represents the biggest year-over-year increase since March 2006, at the height of the housing boom, and the 13th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 1.9 percent in March 2013 over to February 2013.*

Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased on a year-over-year basis by 10.7 percent in March 2013 compared to March 2012. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 2.4 percent in March 2013 compared to February 2013. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The CoreLogic Pending HPI indicates that April 2013 home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to rise by 9.6 percent on a year-over-year basis from April 2012 and rise by 1.3 percent on a month-over-month basis from March 2013. Excluding distressed sales, April 2013 home prices are poised to rise 12 percent year over year from April 2012 and by 2.7 percent month over month from March 2013. The CoreLogic Pending HPI is a proprietary 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 for the most recent month.

“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,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The pace of appreciation has been accelerating throughout 2012 and so far in 2013 leading into the home buying season.”

“Home prices continue to rise at a double-digit rate in March led by strong gains in the western region of the U.S. Looking ahead, the CoreLogic pending index for April indicates that upward price appreciation will continue,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Much of the price increases we are seeing are the result of rising demand among investors and homebuyers for a still-limited supply of homes for sale.”

Highlights as of March 2013:

• Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+22.2 percent), California (+17.2 percent), Arizona (+16.8 percent), Idaho (+14.5 percent) and Oregon (+14.3 percent).
• Including distressed sales, this month only four states posted home price depreciation: Delaware (-3.7 percent), Alabama (-3.1 percent), Illinois (-1.8 percent) and West Virginia (-0.3 percent).
• Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+20.8 percent), California (+16.8 percent), Idaho (+16.3), Arizona (+15.1 percent) and Hawaii (+14.3 percent).
• Excluding distressed sales, no states posted home price depreciation in March.
• Including distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the national HPI (from April 2006 to March 2013) was -25.1 percent. Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the HPI for the same period was -18.3 percent.
• The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (-49.2 percent), Florida (-42.8 percent), Michigan (-38.9 percent), Arizona (-37.8 percent) and Rhode Island (-36.2 percent).
• Of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 88 were showing year-over-year increases in March, down from 92 in February.

*February data was revised. Revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results.