BAP Blog U. S. June Home Prices Up 0.7% From May But Fall 6.8% From June 2010

As reported by CoreLogic U.S. home prices rose 0.7% in June from May. This according to a home price index released Wednesday, although some of that increase is probably the result of seasonal variations. The home price index, which includes so-called distressed properties, fell by 6.8% in June when compared with the same month last year. If you exclude foreclosures and other distressed properties, prices were up 1.5% in June over May. They fell 1.1% when compared with June 2010. Distressed sales include foreclosure properties as well as short sales, a transaction in which the bank allows a property to be sold for less than the outstanding debt on the property. There is a consistent and sustained seasonal improvement in prices over the last three months, prices are lower than a year ago due to the decline in prices after the expiration of the tax credit last year. The most recent Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of prices in 20 major metropolitan areas showed a 1% increase in May compared with April but a 4.5% decline from May 2010. The Case-Shiller index is probably the most widely followed home-price gauge, but many economists and analysts also look to the CoreLogic home price index as an indicator of where the housing market is headed. Enhanced by Zemanta