September U.S. Home Prices Rise Most in Michigan and Montana

In 28 states and the District of Columbia, home prices are at or within 10% of their peak. Home prices remain 12.6% below the peak set in April 2006. The data was released Tuesday by research firm CoreLogic.

Including sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the largest year-over-year price increases were Michigan (10.3%), Montana (10.0%), Maine (9.6%), Massachusetts (8.6%) and California (8.5%).

Excluding sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the biggest price increases over the past 12 months were Maine (10.4%), Massachusetts (9.7%), California (7.6%), Texas (7.4%) and Michigan (7.2%).

The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (36.6%), Florida (34.1%), Arizona (9.6%), Rhode Island (27.9%) and Maryland (21.2%).

CoreLogic’s deputy chief economist said:

There has been a clear bifurcation in home price growth for lower-end versus upper-end properties in 2014. As of December 2013, both lower-end and upper-end property prices were up 9.7 percent on a year over year basis. As of September, lower-end prices were up 9.4 percent but upper-end prices were up only 4.5 percent.

CoreLogic has forecast that home prices, including distressed sales, will rise 0.1% in October compared with September and by 4.6% in the 12 months between September 2014 and September 2015. Both estimates include distressed sales.

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