FNC: House prices increased 4.0% year-over-year in May

In addition to Case-Shiller, CoreLogic, FHFA and LPS, I'm also watching the FNC, Zillow and several other house price indexes.

From FNC: FNC Index: Home Prices Continue to Rise Steadily; Up 0.5% in May

The latest FNC Residential Price Index™ (RPI) shows that U.S. home prices continue to steadily improve, climbing another 0.5% in May in conjunction with continued improvement in housing market fundamentals. Notably, the FNC RPI shows that the pace at which home prices are rising is rather modest, averaging 0.4% per month in the last six months. Similarly, the rate of annual price appreciation appears to be much slower and sustainable than reported by a number of other closely watched price indices.

... Based on recorded sales of non-distressed properties (existing and new homes) in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, the FNC 100-MSA composite index shows that May home prices rose from the previous month at a seasonally unadjusted rate of 0.5%. The two narrower indices (30-MSA and 10-MSA composites) recoded a 0.4% increase. On a year-over-year basis, home prices were up a modest 4.0% from a year ago.

Note: This increase is partially seasonal.  This year prices were up 0.5% in May (from April).  Last year, in May 2012, prices were up 1.0% - so this is slower seasonal price appreciation this year.

The year-over-year change slowed in May, with the 100-MSA composite up 4.0% compared to May 2012. The FNC index turned positive on a year-over-year basis in July, 2012.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the year-over-year change for the FNC Composite 10, 20, 30 and 100 indexes. Note: The FNC indexes are hedonic price indexes using a blend of sold homes and real-time appraisals.

Even with the recent increase, the FNC composite 100 index is still off 28.3% from the peak.