U.S. home prices showing continued increases

U.S. home prices showed their second year-on-year increase in April according to research group CoreLogic.

The company’s April Home Price Index report revealed that residential prices nationwide rose 1.1% compared to April 2011, including distressed sales.

This was the second consecutive year-on-year increase … the first time this has occurred since June 2010.

Prices increased 2.2% in April on a month-on-month basis.
Anand Nallathambi, president and chief exective of CoreLogic, said that the consecutive increase is “one sign that the housing market is stabilizing”.

“Home prices are responding a restricted supply that will likely exist for some time to come – an optimistic sign for the future of our industry,” he said
CoreLogic’s chief economist Mark Fleming added that the figures show positive signs not seen for years in the American housing market.

"Excluding distressed sales, home prices in March and April are improving at a rate not seen since late 2006 and appreciating at a faster rate than during the tax-credit boom let in 2010," he said. "Nationally, the supply of homes in current inventory is down to 6.5 months, a level not seen in more than five years, in part driven by the 'locked in' position of so many homeowners in negative equity."

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