May Home Prices Dip in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

July 5, 2016 by Paul Ausick

Home prices in the United States rose for the 52nd consecutive month in May. Compared with May of 2015, home prices rose 5.9%, including the sales of distressed properties. The year-over-year April increase was 6.2%. Month over month, May home prices rose by 0.8%, while April prices had risen 1.8% over February prices.

Three states posted negative home price changes in May: Connecticut, down 0.9%; New Jersey, down 0.2%; and Pennsylvania, down 0.1%. Home prices reached new highs in 21 states — Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming — as well as in the District of Columbia.

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

Including sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the largest year-over-year price increases in March were Washington (10.6%), Colorado (10.0%), Oregon (10.0%), Florida (9.3%) and New York (8.2%).

Excluding sales of distressed properties, the five states posting the biggest price increases over the past 12 months were Oregon (11.0%), Washington (10.1%), Colorado (9.4%), Nevada (7.8%) and Utah (7.5%).

The five states with the largest remaining peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (32.7%), Florida (24.3%), Arizona (23.9%), Rhode Island (22.4%) and Maryland (21.8%).

Peak home prices occurred in April 2006 and current prices remain 7.2% below that peak. Including distressed sales, CoreLogic forecasts national single-family home prices to reach a new peak in September 2017.

CoreLogic’s chief economist said:

Housing remained an oasis of stability in May with home prices rising year over year between 5 percent and 6 percent for 22 consecutive months. The consistently solid growth in home prices has been driven by the highest resale activity in nine years and a still-tight housing inventory.

CoreLogic has forecast that home prices will rise 0.8% month over month in June and rise by 5.3% between May 2016 and May 2017. Both projections include distressed sales.

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