CoreLogic: September Posts Largest Annual Price Pickup Since 2006

Home prices in September posted their biggest yearly gain in more than 6 years, but prices also displayed a typical seasonal slowdown and fell month-over-month, according to the Home Price Index (HPI) report from ""CoreLogic"":http://www.corelogic.com/.

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When including distressed sales, the report showed home prices moved higher by 5 percent from September 2011, the seventh straight month of yearly increases and the biggest annual gain since July 2006.

From August to September, prices decreased by 0.3 percent.

CoreLogic's pending HPI projects continued yearly gains into October, with prices expected to rise by 5.7 percent from October 2011. As winter moves closer, prices are expected to continue their fall and drop 0.5 percent month-over-month.

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""While prices on a month-over-month basis are declining, as expected in the housing off-season, most states are exhibiting price increases. Gains are particularly large in former housing bubble states and energy-industry concentrated states,"" said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a release.

Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic added, ""Home prices are responding to better market fundamentals, such as reduced inventories and improved buyer demand.""

Out of the 50 states, all but seven saw prices increase over a one-year period.

The five states that led with the biggest yearly increases in home prices were Arizona (+18.7 percent), Idaho (+13.1 percent), Nevada (+11.0 percent), Hawaii (+8.9 percent) and Utah (+8.7 percent).

The five states that saw prices fall the furthest during the same period were Rhode Island (-3.5 percent), Illinois (-2.3 percent), New Jersey (-1.8 percent), Alabama (-1.3 percent) and Delaware (-0.5 percent).

Among the largest metros, Phoenix held a huge lead compared to others with its 22.1 percent year-over-year gain. The next top four metros posted single digit gains. Houston's 6.6 percent increase made it second, followed by Riverside (5.2 percent), Los Angeles (4.8 percent), and Washington D.C. (4.8 percent).