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Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 5.6 percent in September 2014 compared with September 2013, according to a new report from real estate analytics firm CoreLogic. On a month-over-month basis, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, were nearly flat, inching down 0.1 percent in September 2014 compared with August 2014.
At the state level, including distressed sales, all 50 states and the district of Columbia posted year-over-year price increases in September. Five states posted new all-time high prices.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationally increased 5.2 percent in September 2014 compared with September 2013 and 0.1 percent month-over-month compared with August 2014. Also excluding distressed sales, only Mississippi showed year-over-year home price depreciation in September, with prices there dipping 0.9 percent. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate-owned (REO) transactions.
CoreLogic predicts that home prices, including distressed sales, will increase 0.1 percent month over month from September 2014 to October 2014 and, on a year-over-year basis, by 5 percent from September 2014 to September 2015. Excluding distressed sales, home prices are expected to rise 0.1 percent month-over-month from September 2014 to October 2014 and by 4.6 percent year-over-year from September 2014 to September 2015.
"There has been a clear bifurcation in home price growth for lower-end versus upper-end properties in 2014," Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, said in a statement. "As of December 2013, both lower-end and upper-end property prices were up 9.7 percent on a year over year basis. As of September, lower-end prices were up 9.4 percent but upper-end prices were up only 4.5 percent."
Including distressed sales, Connecticut ranked 49th among all states for home price appreciation in September, with Nutmeg State prices rising 1.2 percent, according to CoreLogic. The five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Michigan (10.3 percent), Montana (10 percent), Maine (9.6 percent), Massachusetts (8.8 percent) and California (8.5 percent).
Excluding distressed sales, Connecticut prices were up 2 percent. The five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Maine (10.4 percent), Massachusetts (9.7 percent), California (7.6 percent), Texas (7.4 percent) and Michigan (7.2 percent).
Ninety-six of the country's top 100 largest population centers, according to the U.S. Census, showed year-over-year increases in September 2014. Two of the four that did not were in Connecticut: the New Haven-Milford area and Hartford metropolitan area. Rochester, N.Y. and Little Rock, Ark. were the others.
Including distressed transactions, U.S. home prices remain 12.6 below their peak in April 2006. Connecticut prices remain 19.9 percent below their peak.
