Home Prices Strengthen with Second Consecutive Monthly Increase

April marked the second consecutive month of monthly home price gains but posted a 2.4 percent decline year over year, according to ""FNC's Residential Price Index."":http://www.fncrpi.com/ViewFile.aspx?ref=pr_50

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However, FNC notes that the yearly decline ""marks the slowest pace of price declines since the housing crash.""

""FNC,"":http://www.fncinc.com/ an appraisal technology provider, recorded a 0.6 percent price increase in April based on prices in the 100 largest metropolitan areas. FNC relies on public records and real-time appraisals of neighborhoods and properties.

FNC attributed the positive movement to ""rising demand and limited inventory"" along with a decreasing number of distressed properties listed for sale.

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A second index, the FNC 30-MSA, also revealed an overall monthly increase with almost one dozen cities experiencing increases of more than 2 percent for the month. Detroit, Nashville, and Portland experienced the greatest monthly gains.

Five of the 30 markets posted declines for the month, including Miami, Orlando, Tampa, St. Louis, and Washington D.C.

Miami and Tampa both broke five-month upward price trends, leading FNC to project the declines were the result of ""a modest increase in the share of foreclosure sales during the month"" in the two markets.

The other three cities to experience declines in April do not appear to be an anomaly, according to FNC, which ranks Orlando, St. Louis, and Washington D.C. ""worst among the nation's major housing markets in terms of year-over-year price depreciation.""

Measuring from their peak, FNC found about half of the MSAs in its 30-MSA composite index currently measure at least 30 percent price depreciation.

The cities posting the highest declines in value since their peak are Las Vegas (61.8 percent), Orlando (58.6 percent), Phoenix and Riverside (58.1 percent), Sacramento (56.6 percent), and Miami (54.4 percent).

Orlando ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô ranking second for greatest depreciation from its peak and third for depreciation from April 2011 to April 2012 ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô is the only city on FNC's indices to rank in the top three for both peak-to-date depreciation and year-over-year depreciation in April.