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In its most recent Home Price Index release, real estate data firm CoreLogic reported that prices advanced 5 percent nationwide in December compared to the same month in 2013. The estimate includes REO transactions and short sales. The increase marked the 34th straight month of annual improvements in home prices at the national level, though gains have slowed from the double-digit returns seen in 2012 and 2013.
Three states showed year-over-year declines in home prices, including Maryland, Vermont, and Connecticut, with drops ranging from 0.7 percent to 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, 27 states and the District of Columbia are now at or within 10 percent of their respective price peaks.
More banks loosened mortgage standards in the past three months as demand continued to fade, according to responses in the Federal Reserve's latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey. Bank respondents reported less stringent lending criteria across most mortgage categories in January, with credit loosening most on GSE-eligible loans and jumbo loans falling under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage standards. On net, standards were also slightly looser for government-backed mortgages; non-jumbo, non-agency QM loans; and non-QM jumbo loans.
