Massachusetts home prices, including distressed sales, roughly kept pace with nationwide increases in July, with Bay State homes inching up 3.7 percent in value compared to a 3.8 percent bump nationally, according to a recent report from national real estate tracking firm CoreLogic.

When distressed sales are excluded, prices in the Bay State climbed 5.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 3.8 percent in July compared to July 2011. This was the biggest year-over-year increase since August 2006. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 1.3 percent in July 2012 compared to June.

The July 2012 figures mark the fifth consecutive increase in home prices nationally on both a year-over-year and month-over-month basis.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased on a year-over-year basis by 4.3 percent in July 2012 compared to July 2011. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.7 percent in July 2012 compared to June 2012, also the fifth consecutive month-over-month increase. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The CoreLogic Pending Home Price Index indicates that August home prices, including distressed sales, will rise by 4.6 percent on a year-over-year basis from August 2011 and at least 0.6 percent on a month-over-month basis from July 2012. Excluding distressed sales, August house prices are also poised to rise 6.0 percent year-over-year from August 2011 and by 1.3 percent month-over-month from July 2012.

"The housing market continues its positive trajectory with significant price gains in July and our expectation of a further increase in August," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "While the pace of growth is moderating as we transition to the off-season for home buying, we expect a positive gain in price levels for the full year."