Home prices in the United States rose for the 34th consecutive month in December, but the increase continued to moderate. Compared with December of 2013, home prices rose 5%, including the sales of distressed properties. December home prices fell by 0.1% from November prices. In November, prices rose 5.5% year-over-year and 0.1% month-over-month.

The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (36.0%), Florida (33.5%), Arizona (29.5%), Rhode Island (29.1%) and Connecticut (25.2%). The data were released Tuesday by research firm CoreLogic.

Including sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the largest year-over-year price increases in December were Colorado (8.4%), Texas (7.8%), New York (7.6%), Nevada (7.3%) and Michigan (7.2%).

Excluding sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the biggest price increases over the past 12 months were New York (8.0%), Colorado (7.8%), Massachusetts (7.2%), Texas (7.1%) and Nevada (7.1%).

CoreLogic’s CEO said:

Nationally, home price appreciation took a pause in November and December 2014 and we expect a slow start to 2015. As the year progresses, we expect upward pressure as low inventories and more first-time buyers drive up home prices.

CoreLogic has forecast that home prices, including distressed sales, will rise 0.1% in January compared with December and rise by 4.5% in the 12 months between December 2014 and December 2015. The projected monthly increase includes distressed sales, but the annual projection does not.

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