The MReport Webcast: Wednesday 4/8/2015

National home prices in February were up, year-over-year, for the third consecutive year, according to the latest Home Price Index report by CoreLogic, released Tuesday. According to the report, home prices were up 5.6 percent nationwide compared to February 2014. Month-over-month, home prices nationwide increased by 1 point 1 percent, compared to January. Overall, 26 states and the District of Columbia were at or within 10 percent of their peak prices

The dwindling supply of affordable inventory since the second half of 2014 has led to stabilization in home price growth, with “a particular uptick in low-end home price growth over the last few months," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. From February 2014 to February 2015, low-end home prices increased by 9.3 percent, compared to 4.8 percent for high-end home prices. Nothaft said this gap is three times the average historical difference.

Among the most persistent aftershocks of the recession is the continuing trouble that borrowers with less-than-pristine credit have when trying to get a mortgage. And there are no signs of the situation lightening up for those looking to buy a home, according to a new report by the Urban Institute. According to the institute, which studied loan trends between 2009 and 2013, mortgage credit is tighter than it was at the peak of the housing bubble in 2005 and 2006. While this is to be expected, the report also said that, “credit is also significantly tighter than it was in 2001, before the housing crisis."