Home prices rise in March but come with a qualifier on the market as a whole, while a nationwide
poll saw economic gains across the country--coming up on Wednesday’s News Wrap.
Despite a lackluster spring that went against analysts' projections, CoreLogic reported in its latest Home
Price Index that home prices, including distressed and non-distressed sales, still rose from February to
March by 1-point 4 percent. Without distressed sales, the HPI still reflected positive gains for the month, up
point-9 percent. March's gain continues a 25-month consecutive streak of year-over-year home price gains.
CoreLogic believes that prices will continue to grow, projecting a point-8 percent growth in April.
Yearly, home prices rose by 11-point 1 percent from March 2013 to March 2014. Excluding distressed
sales, the yearly gain is slightly less at 9-point 5 percent. Moving forward, the company projects that home
prices will continue to rise, growing 6-point 7 percent by March 2015. Despite gains across the board in
home prices, CoreLogic tempered the good news with a more holistic assessment of prices pre- and post-
crisis. The company found that home prices remain 16 percent below the peak seen in April 2006.
In a nationwide analysis of 351 metros, the National Association of Home Builders found 300 have seen
year-over-year economic gains. According to the group's Leading Markets Index, 59 metros have fully
returned or even exceeded their last normal levels of both economic and housing activity. Overall, the
nationwide economic score rose slightly to point-8 8 from a revised April reading of point-8 7, meaning that
the nationwide average is running at 88 percent of normal economic housing activity. Last year, the LMI
was point-8 2 percent.
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