U.S. Home Prices Rise 6.8 Percent Annually in February

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CoreLogic Forecasts a 5.2 Percent Increase in home prices by February 2017

According to CoreLogic's latest Home Price Index for February 2016 shows that U.S. home prices are up both year over year and month over month.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 6.8 percent in February 2016 compared with February 2015 and increased month over month by 1.1 percent in February 2016 compared with January 2016, reports CoreLogic.

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 5.2 percent on a year-over-year basis from February 2016 to February 2017, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase 0.6 percent from February 2016 to March 2016. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.

"Fixed-rate mortgage rates dropped more than one-quarter of a percentage point in the first three months of 2016, and job creation averaged 209,000 over the same period," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "These economic forces will sustain home purchases during the spring and support the 5.2 percent home price appreciation CoreLogic has projected for the next year."

"Home prices continue to rise across the U.S. with every state posting year-over-year gains during the last 12 months," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Improved economic conditions and tight inventories continue to drive exceptionally strong gains in many markets, especially for homes priced below $500,000."