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Region's Home Prices Drop 6.1% in February
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Area home prices, including distressed sales, decreased by 6.1% in February 2012 from a year earlier, CoreLogic reported on its latest home price index.
The report also showed that sales in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman statistical area declined by 5.3% in January compared to the same month in 2011, revised data showed.
Excluding distressed properties, year-over-year prices declined by 7.8% in February 2012 compared to February 2011, and declined by 3.1% in January 2012 compared to January 2011.
Excluding distressed sales, month-over-month prices nationally increased 0.7% in February from January. The index also showed that year-over-year prices declined by 0.8% in February 2012 compared to February 2011. Nationwide, home prices, including distressed sales, declined on a year-over-year basis by 2.0% in February 2012 and by 0.8% compared to January 2012, the seventh consecutive monthly decline.
Ohio home prices decreased by 3.3% year over year, 1.2% excluding distressed properties, according to CoreLogic.
"House prices, based on data through February, continue to decline, but at a decreasing rate. The deceleration in the pace of decline is a first step toward ultimately growing again," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "Excluding distressed sales, we already see modest price appreciation month over month in January and February."
"The continued strength of sales activity and tightening inventories in many markets are early and hopeful signs that prices will continue to stabilize and improve in the coming months. In fact, non-distressed home sale prices, which represent two-thirds of all sales, have appreciated by just over 1.0 percent since the beginning of the year," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.