U.S. Home Price Index Up Month-Over-Month in May, Prices 7.4% Lower than a Year Ago

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According to CoreLogic's (NYSE: CLGX) May Home Price Index (HPI), home prices in the U.S. increased on a month-over-month basis.  According to the CoreLogic HPI, national home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 0.8 percent in May 2011 compared to April 2011, the second consecutive month-over-month increase.

On a year-over-year basis, home prices declined by 7.4 percent in May 2011 compared to May 2010 after declining by 6.7 percent in April 2011 compared to April 2010.  Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.4 percent in May 2011 compared to May 2010 and by 0.8* percent in April 2011 compared to April 2010.  Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.    

"Two consecutive months of month-over-month growth and continued relative strength in the non-distressed market segment are positive seasonal signs in the housing market.  Slowly declining shadow inventory and stabilized negative equity levels are also positive signs.  Nonetheless, the fragile economic recovery is still critical to the long-term recovery in the housing market," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

National Highlights as of May 2011

• Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were:  New York (+4.4 percent), Vermont (+3.9 percent), North Dakota (+3.8 percent), Hawaii (+2.5 percent) and the District of Columbia (+0.5 percent).

• Including distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Idaho (-16.4 percent), Michigan (-12.9 percent), Arizona (-12.1percent), Illinois (-11.8 percent) and Nevada (-11.6 percent).

• Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: West Virginia (+10.1 percent), Hawaii (+9.0 percent), North Dakota (+8.6 percent), Vermont (+6.3 percent) and New York (+6.1 percent).

• Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Nevada (-9.8 percent), Idaho (-7.9 percent), Arizona (-7.0 percent), South Dakota (-6.1 percent) and Minnesota (-5.0 percent).

• Including distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the national HPI (from April 2006 to May 2011) was -32.7 percent.  Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the HPI for the same period was -21.2 percent.

• Of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 91* are showing year-over-year declines in May, unchanged from April. 

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