Econintersect: CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) shows that home prices in the USA in August 2013 are up 12.4% year-over-year (reported up 0.9% month-over-month).
This is the 18th consecutive month of year-over-year increase. Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic stated:
While prices increased more than 12 percent on a year-over-year basis, the month-to-month change is more telling of this year’s late summer trend.
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Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic stated:
After a strong run, the rate of home price appreciation slowed in August. In addition to normal seasonality, the recent sharp rise in mortgage rates off their historic lows was a clear driver behind the slowdown. We anticipate moderate gains in home prices over the balance of this year, supported by the recent downward trend in rates and continued tight supplies of homes in many markets.
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Comparison of Home Price Indices – Case-Shiller 3 Month Average (blue line, left axis), CoreLogic (green line, left axis) and National Association of Realtors (red line, right axis)
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The way to understand the dynamics of home prices is to watch the direction of the rate of change – and not necessarily whether the prices are getting better or worse. Home prices are improving – but the rate growth of year-over-year price improvement is now flat (not accelerating or decelerating).
Year-over-Year Price Change Home Price Indices – Case-Shiller 3 Month Average (blue bar), CoreLogic (yellow bar) and National Association of Realtors (red bar)
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Source: CoreLogic