by Calculated Risk on 6/04/2019 08:37:00 AM

Notes: This CoreLogic House Price Index report is for April. The recent Case-Shiller index release was for March. The CoreLogic HPI is a three month weighted average and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA).

From CoreLogic: CoreLogic Reports April Home Prices Increased by 3.6% Year Over Year

CoreLogic® ... today released the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI™) and HPI Forecast™ for April 2019, which shows home prices rose both year over year and month over month. Home prices increased nationally by 3.6% from April 2018. On a month-over-month basis, prices increased by 1% in April 2019. (March 2019 data was revised. Revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results each month.)

Looking ahead, after several months of moderation in early 2019, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates home prices will begin to pick up and increase by 4.7% from April 2019 to April 2020. On a month-over-month basis, home prices are expected to decrease by 0.3% from April 2019 to May 2019. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices calculated using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.

“The pickup in sales between March and April, has helped to counter the recent slowing in annual home-price growth,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Mortgage rates are 0.6 percentage points below what they were one year ago and incomes are up, which has improved affordability for buyers. However, price growth has remained the highest for lower-priced homes, constraining housing choices for first-time buyers.”
emphasis added

CR Note: The CoreLogic YoY increase had been in the 5% to 7% range for several years, before slowing last year. The slight pickup in the YoY appreciation is the first "acceleration" since March 2018.

The year-over-year comparison has been positive for more than seven years since turning positive year-over-year in February 2012.