24/7 Wall St.

Home prices in the United States rose for the 62nd consecutive month in March. Compared with March of 2016, home prices rose 7.1%, including the sales of distressed properties. The year-over-year February increase was 7%. Month over month, March home prices rose by 1% from February prices, which had risen 1.6 % over January prices.

Only two states posted negative home price changes in March: Alaska, down 0.8%, and West Virginia, down 1.2%. Home prices reached new highs in the District of Columbia and 15 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington.

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

Including sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the largest year-over-year price increases in January were Washington (12.8%), Utah (9.9%), Oregon (9.4%), Colorado (8.7%) and Idaho (8.4%).

CoreLogic chief economist Frank Nothaft said:

Home prices posted strong gains in March 2017, and the CoreLogic Home Price Index is only 2.8 percent from its 2006 peak. With a forecasted increase of almost 5 percent over the next 12 months, the index is expected to reach the previous peak during the second half of this year. Prices in more than half the country have already surpassed their previous peaks, and almost 20 percent of metropolitan areas are now at their price peaks. Nationally, price growth has gradually accelerated over the past half-year, while rent growth for single-family rental homes has slowly decelerated over the same period, according to the CoreLogic Single-Family Rental Index, recording a 3 percent rise over the year through March.

Excluding sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the biggest price increases over the past 12 months were Washington (12.0%), Utah (8.9%), Oregon (8.5%), Idaho (8.4%) and Colorado (8.1%).

The five states with the largest remaining peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (29.9%), Connecticut (20.9%), Florida (20.2%), Maryland (19.6%) and Arizona (19.4%).

Peak home prices occurred in April 2006 and current prices remain 2.8% below that peak. Including distressed sales, CoreLogic forecasts national single-family home prices to reach a new peak in August 2017.

CoreLogic has forecast that home prices will rise 0.6% month over month in April and rise by 4.9% between March 2017 and March 2018. Both projections include distressed sales.