Home prices have been rising since early 2006. According to CoreLogic, prices increased by 12.2 percent in May 2013 from May 2012, the most significant annual incline since February 2006, reports Mortgage News Daily. May marks the 15th consecutive month that its Home Price Index, which includes distressed sales, posted a national increase in prices and a 2.6 percent month-over-month change. CoreLogic projects that June prices will go up by 13.2 percent year-over-year and by 2.9 percent from May to June.
These states experienced the biggest home appreciation gains:
- Nevada — 26 percent
- California — 20.2 percent
- Arizona — 16.9 percent
- Hawaii — 16.1 percent
- Oregon — 15.5 percent
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, feels that the price surge needs to be balanced out by additional inventory from new homebuilding, reports CNN Money. While home price appreciation is welcome, an unmitigated surge stimulated by narrower inventory than what the market currently supports is not. The median home price spiked 8 percent in just one month’s time, from April to May of this year. Homes are also moving twice as fast as they did one year prior. The average number of days on the market this past May was 41.