Home prices ticked up 7.4 percent in the past year

Home prices ticked up 7.4 percent during the past year, reflecting 29 straight months of yearly increases as many states hit levels not seen in nearly eight years.

Along with consistent year-over-year increases, prices were up 1.2 percent in July, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index released on Tuesday.

{mosads}”While home prices have clearly moderated nationwide since the spring, the geographic drivers of price increases are shifting,” said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic.

“Entering this year, price increases were led by western and southern states, but over the last few months northeastern and midwestern states are migrating to the forefront of home price rankings.”

Arkansas was the only state that posted a decline in July, showing a 0.9 percent drop.

A total of 11 states, — Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont — plus the District of Columbia, reached new highs in the index dating back to January 1976 when the index started.

“Most states are reaching price levels not seen since the boom year of 2006,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

“Our data indicates that this trend will continue, with more states hitting new all-time peaks this year and into 2015 as the recovery continues.”

Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationally increased 6.8 percent in July, compared with July 2013 and 1.1 percent month over month, compared with June.

Also excluding distressed sales, all 50 states and the District of Columbia showed year-over-year home price increases in July.

Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

CoreLogic’s is forecasting that home prices, including distressed sales, will increase 0.6 percent in August and 5.7 percent for the next 12 months.

The five states with the highest home price appreciation including distressed sales were: Michigan (+11.4 percent), Maine (+10.6 percent), Nevada (+10.6 percent), Hawaii (+10.5 percent) and California (+10.5 percent).

Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: Massachusetts (+11.2 percent), New York (+9.7 percent), Maine (+9.5 percent), Hawaii (+9.2 percent) and Florida (+8.8 percent).

The peak-to-current change in the national index (from April 2006 to June) was -11.9 percent. Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the index for the same period was -8.3 percent.

The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were: Nevada (-36.4 percent), Florida (-33.0 percent), Arizona (-28.9 percent), Rhode Island (-26.9 percent) and New Jersey (-20.6 percent).