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Home prices rose 6.9% in April compared with the same month a year ago, according to CoreLogic. The research firm had previously forecast a rise of 9.6%, more in line with the index jumps for the first three months of the year. The data include sales of distressed properties.

Month over month, April prices rose 1.6%, including distressed home sales. CoreLogic expects May housing prices to rise another 5.1% year over year and to rise by 0.7% month over month.

CEO Frank Martell noted:

Interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages are down by one-fourth of a percentage point since mid-March, just in time to support the spring home-buying season. Some metro areas have low for-sale inventory, short time-on-market trends and homes that sell above list price. Geographically, gains were strongest in the West with Washington and Utah posting double-digit gains.

Chief Economist Frank Nothaft added:

Mortgage rates in April dipped back to their lowest level since November of last year, spurring home-buying activity. In some metro areas, there has been a bidding frenzy as multiple contracts are place on a single home. This has led to home-price growth to outpace rent gains. Nationally, … rent growth for single-family rental homes recorded a 3 percent rise through April, according to the CoreLogic Single-Family Rental Index.

Including distressed sales, home prices rose the most in Washington (12.0%), Utah (10.1%) and Oregon (9.1%).

The 10 U.S. metropolitan areas posting the largest increases were:

1. Denver: 9.3%
2. San Diego: 7.1%
3. Las Vegas: 7.0%
4. Los Angeles: 6.2%
5. Boston: 6.0%
6. Chicago: 5.7%
7. Washington, D.C.: 5.0%
8. Miami: 4.5%
9. San Francisco: 4.3%
10. Houston: 2.1%

See the CoreLogic March report for more detail.