CoreLogic: Home Price Growth Tops 6% for 4th Straight Month

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said November home prices nationally increased year over year by 7 percent month-over-month basis by 1 percent.

The company’s Home Price Index and HPI Forecast said 37 percent of metropolitan areas had an overvalued housing stock as of November; 36 percent of the top 100 metropolitan areas were undervalued and 26 percent were at value. When looking at only the top 50 markets based on housing stock, 50 percent were overvalued, 14 percent were undervalued and 36 percent were at value.

“Rising home prices are good news for home sellers, but add to the challenges that home buyers face,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Growing numbers of first-time buyers find limited for-sale inventory for lower-priced homes, leading to both higher rates of price growth for ‘starter’ homes and further erosion of affordability.”

Looking ahead, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices should increase by 4.2 percent on a year-over-year basis and decrease by 0.4 percent through December.

“Without a significant surge in new building and affordable housing stock, the relatively high level of growth in home prices of recent years will continue in most markets,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Although policymakers are increasingly looking for ways to address the lack of affordable housing, much more needs to be done soon to see a significant improvement over the medium term.”