CoreLogic April Home Price Index Jumps Nearly 7%

U.S. home prices rose 6.9% in April compared with the same month a year ago, according to data from CoreLogic released Tuesday in the research firm’s Home Price Insights monthly report. The data include sales of distressed properties.

Since the housing market bottomed out in March 2011, the CoreLogic index has risen by 55.4%. As of April, home prices are now 3.9% higher than they were at the April 2006 pre-crash peak.

Month over month, April prices rose 1.2%, including distressed home sales. CoreLogic expects housing prices to rise by 5.3% year over year by April 2019 and to increase by 0.2% month over month in May 2018.

CEO Frank Martell noted:

Florida continues to show price resiliency after Hurricane Irma in 2017. Despite the impact of the hurricane, prices were up 5.8 percent across the state compared to a year ago. CoreLogic data projects continued gains to home prices in Florida for the remainder of 2018. However, gains could be erased if a significant storm makes landfall again.

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Chief Economist Frank Nothaft added:

The best antidote for rising home prices is additional supply. New construction has failed to keep up with and meet new housing growth or replace existing inventory. More construction of for-sale and rental housing will alleviate housing cost pressures.

Including distressed sales, home prices rose the most year over year in Washington (12.8%), Idaho (12.4%), Nevada (12.2%) and Utah (11.5%).

Through April, 28% of the top 100 metropolitan areas were undervalued and 32% were at value. When looking at only the top 50 markets based on housing stock, 52% were overvalued, 14% were undervalued and 34% were at value. CoreLogic defines an overvalued housing market as one in which home prices are at least 10% higher than the long-term, sustainable level, while an undervalued housing market is one in which home prices are at least 10% below the sustainable level.

Among U.S. metro areas, Seattle and Las Vegas have posted the largest year-over-year index gains, both up 12.3%. Denver is up 8.9%, Los Angeles is up 8.5% and San Diego is up 7.3%, to round out the top five.

See CoreLogic’s April report for more information.

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