IRVINE, Calif.–To no one’s surprise, especially home shoppers, the latest —CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) shows home prices are up both year over year and month over month.
Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 7% in February 2017 compared with February 2016 and increased month over month by 1% in February 2017 compared with January 2017, according to the CoreLogic HPI.
Meanwhile, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 4.7% on a year-over-year basis from February 2017 to February 2018, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase by 0.4% from February 2017 to March 2017. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.
“Home prices and rents have risen the most in local markets with high demand and limited supply, such as Seattle, Portland and Denver,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The rise in housing costs has been largest for lower-tier-priced homes. For example, from December to February in Seattle, the CoreLogic Home Price Index rose 12% and our single-family rent index rose 6% for all price tiers compared with the same period a year earlier. However, when looking at only lower-cost homes in Seattle, the price increase was 13% and the rent increase was 7%.”
“Home prices continue to grow at a torrid pace so far in 2017 and these gains are likely to continue well into the future,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Home prices are at peak levels in many major markets and the appreciation is being driven by a number of dynamics—high demand, stronger employment, lean supplies and affordability—that will continue to play out in the coming years. The CoreLogic Home Price Index is projecting an additional 5% rise in home prices nationally over the next 12 months.”