Report: Home Prices Rise 5.9 Percent from Last March

According to the March 2015 CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI), home prices, including distressed sales, have increased by 5.9 percent in March 2015 in comparison with March 2014. Short sales and REO transactions are both included in distressed sales.

Month-over-month, prices including distressed sales increased 2 percent from February 2015 to March 2015. Twenty-seven states plus the District of Columbia were at or near 10 percent of their highest prices, including distressed sales. Since January 1976 when CoreLogic did its first HPI, seven states—Colorado, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming—reached new home price highs.

Not including distressed sales, home prices went up by 6.1 percent in March 2015 compared with last year and increased by 2 percent from February 2015 to March 2015. New Mexico was the only state to show depreciation, dropping 0.4 percent from last March.

“The homes for sale inventory continues to be limited while buyer demand has picked up with low mortgage rates and improving consumer confidence,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “As a result, there has been continued upward pressure on prices in most markets, with our national monthly index up 2 percent for March 2015 and up approximately 6 percent from a year ago.”

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a prediction of home prices that is gathered by using the CoreLogic HPI and other relative economic variables. Values are taken from state-level forecasts known directories according to the amount of owned and occupied homes for each state.

The Forecast says that home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to increase by 0.8 percent from March 2015 to April 2015 and by 5.1 percent from March 2015 to March 2016. Not including distressed sales, home prices are projected to increase by 0.7 percent from March 2015 to April 2015 and by 4.7 percent from March 2015 to March 2016.

“All signs are pointing toward continued price appreciation throughout 2015,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Tight inventories, job growth, and the inexorable impact of demographics and household formation are pushing price levels in many states, and especially large metropolitan areas like Dallas, Denver, Houston, Seattle, and San Francisco, toward record levels.”

March 2015 Facts:

• The five states with the highest home values were (Including distressed sales): Colorado (+9.2 percent), South Carolina (+9.1 percent), Kansas (+8 percent), Texas (+8 percent), and Nevada (+7.6 percent).
• The five states with the highest home values were (excluding distressed sales): Kansas (+9.5 percent), Colorado (+8.5 percent), South Carolina (+8.2 percent), Florida (+7.9 percent) and Texas (+7.6 percent).
• Including distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the national HPI (from April 2006 to March 2015) was -11 percent. Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change for the same period was -6.7 percent.

To learn more, visit CoreLogic.com.