February Home Prices Rise Most in Washington, Oregon, Colorado

April 4, 2017 by Paul Ausick

Home prices in the United States rose for the 61st consecutive month in February. Compared with February of 2016, home prices rose 7%, including the sales of distressed properties. The year-over-year January increase was 0.7%. Month over month, February home prices rose by 1.0% from January prices, which had risen 0.7% over December prices.

Only two states posted negative home price changes in February: Connecticut, down 0.8%, and West Virginia, down 1.3%. Home prices reached new highs in the District of Columbia and 11 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

The data were released Tuesday by CoreLogic in its Home Price Insights Report for February.

Including sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the largest year-over-year price increases in January were Washington (11.1%), Oregon (10.0%), Colorado (9.1%), Idaho (8.8%) and Utah (8.7%).

CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said:

Home prices and rents have risen the most in local markets with high demand and limited supply, such as Seattle, Portland, and Denver. The rise in housing costs has been largest for lower-tier-priced homes. For example, from December to February in Seattle, the CoreLogic Home Price Index rose 12 percent and our single-family rent index rose 6 percent for all price tiers compared with the same period a year earlier. However, when looking at only lower-cost homes in Seattle, the price increase was 13 percent and the rent increase was 7 percent.

Excluding sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the biggest price increases over the past 12 months were Washington (10.1%), Oregon (9.4%), Colorado (8.7%), Idaho (8.6%) and Utah (7.3%).

The five states with the largest remaining peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (down 31.7%), Connecticut (20.8%), Florida (20.4%), West Virginia (20.2%) and Arizona (20.0%).

Peak home prices occurred in April 2006 and current prices remain 3.8% below that peak. Including distressed sales, CoreLogic forecasts national single-family home prices to reach a new peak in October 2017.

CoreLogic has forecast that home prices will rise 0.4% month over month in March and rise by 4.7% between February 2017 and February 2018. Both projections include distressed sales.

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