The Data and Analytics division of Black Knight Financial Services released on Monday its latest Home Price Index. The HPI showed an increase of 0.1% in home prices to $232,000 for the month of December. The figure represents the price of non-distressed sales, and takes into account price discounts for real estate owned and short sales. Annually, the HPI increased 8.4% to $214,000 from December, 2012.
Since June 2006, the HPI has dropped 13.9% from its peak of $270,000. 14 of the 20 largest states saw marginal month-over-month home price declines. The states with the biggest increases were New York at 0.7%, Florida at 0.6%, and Oklahoma, Texas, and Nebraska each with an increase of point-4 percent. The largest statewide decrease in home prices was Alaska, down 0.8%.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered First Alliance Lending to pay a civil monetary penalty of $83,000 for violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Under RESPA, a person is banned from paying or receiving a portion of a fee that has not been earned in connection with a real estate settlement. First Alliance continued to split origination and loss-mitigation fees with a former hedge fund that was initially used to finance loans. First Alliance self-reported the 83 infractions to the CFPB.