U.S. home prices rose just 0.2 percent in October compared with the previous month, slowing their torrid growth of earlier in the year, according to a new report from real estate data and analytics provider CoreLogic.
Prices are still much higher than at this time last year, up 12.5 percent in October 2013 compared with October 2012. This is the 20th consecutive monthly year-over-year increase in home prices nationally, according to CoreLogic.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 0.4 percent month over month in October 2013 compared with September 2013. On a year-over-year basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased by 11 percent in October 2013 compared with October 2012. Distressed sales include short sales and real-estate owned (REO) transactions.
Massachusetts prices were below the national average, according to CoreLogic, with prices declining 1.2 percent in October compared with September and up 9.8 percent in compared with October 2012.
"In October, the year-over-year appreciation rate remained strong, but the month-over-month appreciation rate was barely positive, indicating that house price appreciation has slowed as expected for the winter," Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. "Based on our pending HPI, the monthly growth rate is expected to moderate even further in November and December. The slowdown in price appreciation is positive for the housing market as almost half the states are now within 10 percent of their respective historical price peaks."
The firm predicts that the streak of ever increasing prices will come to an end next month, with U.S. home prices staying flat in November, though November 2013 prices will still be up 12.2 percent compared with November 2012. Excluding distressed sales, November 2013 home prices are poised to rise just 0.4 percent month over month from October 2013 and 11.3 percent year over year from November 2012.
"In terms of home price appreciation, the housing market appears to be catching its breath as we head into the final months of 2013," Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. "The deceleration in month-on-month trends was anticipated as strong gains in home prices over the spring and summer slow in line with normal seasonal patterns and the impact of higher mortgage interest rates."
Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+25.9 percent), California (+22.4 percent), Georgia (+14.2 percent), Michigan (+14.1 percent) and Arizona (+14 percent). Almost all of the country’s largest metropolitan areas showed price increase in October, with 96 of the top 100 biggest population centers, as measured by the U.S. Census, showing year-over-year increases in October 2013.
