Price Growth Accelerates in April

""FNC, Inc.'s"":http://www.fncinc.com/ ""Residential Price Index"":http://fncrpi.com/default.aspx (RPI) rose again in April as the share of distressed sales continued to shrink, the company reported.

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FNC's RPI shows prices rose 0.7 percent month-over-month in April, the largest acceleration since June 2012. Year-over-year, the index rose 4.6 percent.

The company attributes the continued gains to improved credit availability, low interest rates, and low prices coming together to drive the housing recovery. In addition, signs of rising interest rates have likely drawn out would-be buyers wanting to move in on the market while affordability is still high.

While the RPI excludes sales of foreclosed homes, FNC also noted foreclosure activities continued to drop, with distressed sales contributing 16.0 percent to total home sales (down from 17.8 percent in March and 21.6 percent a year ago).

Meanwhile, the 30- and 10-metro composites showed faster growth, recording a 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent increase, respectively. On a year-over-year basis, the 30-city index was up 5.2 percent in April, while the 10-city index was up 4.9 percent.

Twenty-five of the component markets tracked by the 30-metro composite index showed increases month-over-month, and prices were up by 1.0 percent or more in nearly a third of the markets, FNC reported. The outliers were Houston (-0.1 percent), Columbus (-0.2 percent), Cleveland (-0.4 percent), San Antonio (-0.6 percent), and Boston (no change).

Year-over-year, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and San Francisco showed the largest price gains in April, posting increases of 29.1 percent, 15.8 percent, 11.6 percent, and 11.0 percent, respectively. Lagging behind were Baltimore (0.6 percent growth), San Antonio (0.5 percent), Columbus (0.5 percent), and Chicago (0.9 percent depreciation).

The median sales-to-list price ratio in April was 95.5, FNC reported, up from 93.7 in January and 92.5 in April 2012.