Tag Archives: Home Prices

Asking prices fell flat in May after three consecutive monthly increases while also decreasing from the year before, according to reports from Trulia. Asking prices on homes for sale were unchanged in May on a seasonally adjusted basis and fell by 0.2 percent year-over-year. However, when excluding foreclosures, asking prices actually rose 1 percent on a yearly basis, while foreclosure prices dropped 5.8 percent over the same time period.

Home prices across the nation rose in April, and a further increase is expected for May's index, according to CoreLogic's April Home Price Index (HPI) report. The report, released Tuesday, showed that home prices in the United States (including distressed sales-short sales and REO transactions) increased on a year-over-year basis by 1.1 percent in April. This was the second consecutive year-over-year increase in 2012 and the first time two consecutive increases have occurred since June 2010. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 2.2 percent in April, marking the second consecutive month-over-month increase this year.

For the first time since August 2010, home prices rose on both a quarterly and yearly basis, according to the May 2012 Home Data Index (HDI) report released by Clear Capital. Quarter-over-quarter, prices appreciated 0.4 percent, the first quarterly increase since November 2011. Year-over-year, prices rose by 0.1 percent, according to the index. The increases were attributed to stronger regional growth in the West, Northeast, and South, as well as a rise in REO-only prices.

Even though Radar Logic reported a monthly increase in home prices for March, the analytics company expects prices to fall and gave credit to temporary market forces for recent strengths seen in the housing market. According to Radar Logic, the RPX Composite price, which tracks home prices in 25 major metropolitan areas, showed a 1.8 percent increase on a monthly basis, but decreased by 0.87 percent year-over-year in March. With distressed homes remaining a significant portion of home sales transactions, Radar Logic dismissed the monthly increase and said significant discounts for distressed properties in relation to non-distressed means a further fall in prices.

Before moving toward home renovations to increase value, Independent We Stand, a national small business organization, has another suggestion: Support local, independently-owned businesses in the neighborhood.

For pre-foreclosure homes, which are residential properties in default or scheduled for auction, sales were at their highest quarterly level since the first quarter of 2009, according to RealtyTrac's foreclosure sales report. Pre-foreclosure sales, which are typically sold through the short sale process, accounted for 12 percent of all sales during the first quarter. Pre-foreclosure homes sold for an average price of $175,461 in the first quarter, a 10 percent decrease from a year ago. The average pre-foreclosure sales price was the lowest in the history of RealtyTrac's foreclosure sales report, which began in the first quarter of 2005.

Following the release of the first quarter 2012 Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes, economists from IHS Global Insight and Capital Economics offered their take on whether the data indicates the market is stabilizing or still searching for a bottom. Patrick Newport and Michelle Valverde, U.S. Economists for IHS Global Insight, said it depends on where you are since prices are driven by local forces such as foreclosure rates and job growth.

The Case Shiller Home Price Indexes fell for the seventh straight month in March. The drop in the broader 20-city index was barely noticeable - down to 134.10 from 134.14 in February - while the 10-city index fell to 146.61 from 146.74. Year-over-year, the 10-city index was down 2.8 percent and the 20-city index off 2.6 percent, improving from February. The national Case Shiller Index, reported quarterly, was down 2.0 percent in the first quarter and down 1.9 percent from the first quarter of 2011. All three composites posted the lowest levels since mid-2006 when the housing crises began.

Zillow issued a released Friday reporting that both national home values and rents rose in the month of April. According to the April Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, national home values rose 0.7 percent in April to a Zillow Home Value Index of $147,300. This is the largest monthly increase in home values since January 2006, and it makes April the second month in a row in which home values climbed up. Zillow also reported that rents rose from March to April, increasing by 1.6 percent, according to the Zillow Rent Index.

In its May foreclosure newsletter, RealtyTrac named the top 10 places to buy foreclosures in 2012. The selected locations were out of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas based on population. The list was further narrowed down according markets with at least 200 foreclosure-related sales transactions in January 2012. Then, it was whittled down again to only include metros with foreclosure sales prices at least 30 percent below the average price of a non-foreclosure property.