Econintersect: CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) shows that home prices in the USA in September 2013 are up 12.0% year-over-year (reported up 0.2% month-over-month). The year-over-year growth decelerated 0.4% compared to the August growth reported last month.
This is the 19th consecutive month of year-over-year increase. Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic stated:
September marked the unofficial five-year anniversary of the start of the housing crisis. The five-year home price appreciation for all homes in the nation was 3.4 percent. While there is still room for improvement, the CoreLogic HPI is at the highest level since May 2008.
/images/z corelogic2.PNG
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic stated:
U.S. home prices continued their ascent in September. Average home prices in nearly half the states are now within striking distance of their pre-downturn pricing peaks. We are seeing a slowdown in the rate of price appreciation over the past few months from the rapid pace experienced over the first half of this year. This deceleration is natural and should help keep market fundamentals in balance over the longer-term.
/images/z corelogic3.PNG
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)
/images/z existing3.PNG
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)
/images/z existing5.PNG
Source: CoreLogic