CoreLogic: Home Prices Continue Upward Trend

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said home prices increased strongly both year over year and month over month in September.  

The company’s Home Price Index said home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased by 6.4 percent in September from a year ago and by 0.6 percent in from August.  

“After nearly 10 years of very high home price volatility, home price increases have been remarkably stable for the last 15 months, ranging between a 4.8 percent and 6.5 percent year-over-year increase,” said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic. “Home price volatility is now back to the long-term trend prior to the boom and bust which is a good barometer of the market’s stability and health.”  

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast suggests home prices are projected to increase by 4.7 percent on a year-over-year basis through September 2016, but could potentially dip slightly next month.    

“Continued growth in home prices is welcome news for many homeowners but more markets are becoming overvalued,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “In the near term, this trend is likely to continue and pose evaluated risks to the housing economy. More has to be done to expand inventories if we are going to address the emerging affordability crisis, especially in hot markets like California and Colorado.”