Home prices rose 6.7% in July compared with the same month a year ago, according to research firm CoreLogic. The firm had previously forecast a rise of 5.2%, more in line with the index jumps for the first three months of the year. The data include sales of distressed properties.

Month over month, July prices rose 0.9%, including distressed home sales. CoreLogic expects August housing prices to rise another 5% year over year by June 2018 and to rise by 0.4% month over month.

CEO Frank Martell noted:

Home prices in July continued to rise at a solid pace with no signs of slowing down. The combination of steadily rising purchase demand along with very tight inventory of unsold homes should keep upward pressure on home prices for the remainder of this year. While mortgage interest rates remain low, affordability cracks are emerging as over a third of U.S. top cities are now overvalued.

Chief economist Frank Nothaft added:

In July, home price growth in the Pacific Northwest and mountain states led the nation with the highest appreciation rates. The sharp increase in prices in Washington and Utah has been especially striking, with home price growth in both states accelerating by 3 percentage points since the beginning of the year.

Including distressed sales, home prices rose the most in Utah (10.8%) and Washington (12.9%).

The 10 U.S. metropolitan areas posting the largest increases were:

1. Denver: up 8.3%
2. Las Vegas: up 7.7%
3. San Diego: up 7.2%
4. San Francisco: up 7.1%
5. Los Angeles: up 6.9%
6. Boston: up 6.5%
7. Miami: up 4.5%
8. Washington, D.C.: up 3.9%
9. Chicago: up 3.5%
10. Houston: up 3.1%

See the CoreLogic June report for more information.

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