CoreLogic: Home Prices Continue Upward

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said U.S. home prices continued to push upward in June, buoyed by low mortgage and unemployment rates.

The company’s Home Price Index said home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 5.7 percent in June, from a year ago and by 1.1 percent from May.

The Pacific Northwest saw strongest year over year growth, led by Oregon (10.9 percent) and Washington (10.3 percent). Colorado (9.2 percent), Utah (7.9 percent) and Nevada (7.7 percent) also saw strong growth. At the other end, Connecticut (-1.7 percent), New Jersey (-0.8 percent) and Pennsylvania (0.1 percent) saw the greatest weakness.

In selected metro areas, Denver easily dominated with 10.2 percent annual price growth, followed by Los Angeles (6.7 percent), Miami (6.2 percent) and Las Vegas (5.7 percent). The Washington D.C. area had the slowest growth of the 10 major cities surveyed, at 2.6 percent.

“Mortgage rates dipped in June to their lowest level in more than three years, supporting home purchases,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Local markets with strong economic growth have generally had stronger home-price growth. Among large metropolitan areas, Denver had the lowest unemployment rate and the strongest home-price appreciation.”

Looking ahead, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates home prices could increase by 5.3 percent through June 2017 and by 0.6 percent from June to July.

“Home prices continue to increase across the country, especially in the lower price ranges and in a number of metro areas,” said CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi. “We see prices continuing to increase at a healthy rate over the next year by as much as 5 percent.”