U.S. single-family home prices declined 4.4 percent year over year in August, with Nevada and Arizona experiencing double-digit percentage declines and West Virginia seeing the largest increase, up 8.6 percent, according to an index by property data firm CoreLogic.
Excluding distressed sales, including short sales and real estate owned (REO) sales, the national index fell 0.7 percent year over year in August. On a month-to-month basis, the index dropped 0.4 percent in August, which was the first such decline in four months, CoreLogic reported.
Thirty-eight states experienced a year-over-year drop in the index in August, while half the states and Washington, D.C., experienced a year-over-year index rise when distressed sales were excluded. West Virginia posted a 10.7 percent year-over-year rise in the index, excluding sales of distressed properties.
The index incorporates 30 years of data for repeat sales transactions, and "price, time between sales, property type, loan type and distressed sales."
The slight month-to-month national decline is not surprising, said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, in a statement. He noted "renewed concerns over a double-dip recession, high negative equity, and the persistent levels of shadow inventory. The continued bright spot is the nondistressed segment of the market, which is only marginally lower than a year ago and continues to exhibit relative strength."
Year-over-year index changes in August for the 10 largest U.S. urban centers (defined as "Core Based Statistical Areas") by population ranged from a drop of 10.2 percent in the Chicago area to a rise of 3.2 percent in the New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J., area. Excluding distressed sales, the year-over-year index changes in August ranged from an 8.2 percent drop in the Phoenix area to a 4 percent increase in the New York-White Plains-Wayne area.
CoreLogic August Home Price Index (year-over-year change)
| All single-family | Excludes distressed sales | |
| National | -4.4% | -0.7% |
| Nevada | -12.4% | -8.8% |
| Arizona | -10.7% | -8.3% |
| Illinois | -9.6% | -1.9% |
| Minnesota | -7.8% | -4.2% |
| Georgia | -7.2% | -3.0% |
| New Mexico | -6.3% | -4.1% |
| California | -6.2% | -0.8% |
| Delaware | -6.0% | -4.9% |
| Washington | -5.6% | -1.7% |
| Ohio | -5.3% | 1.2% |
| Idaho | -5.2% | 0.2% |
| Missouri | -4.9% | -1.3% |
| Utah | -4.9% | -0.6% |
| Alabama | -4.9% | 2.6% |
| Maine | -4.8% | -1.9% |
| Florida | -4.7% | -1.4% |
| Wisconsin | -4.2% | -2.3% |
| Connecticut | -4.0% | -3.1% |
| Oregon | -4.0% | -1.8% |
| Michigan | -3.3% | -4.3% |
| Kentucky | -3.2% | -2.5% |
| New Hampshire | -2.9% | -1.7% |
| Arkansas | -2.6% | -1.4% |
| Maryland | -2.1% | -0.3% |
| Colorado | -1.8% | 0.2% |
| Rhode Island | -1.8% | 1.1% |
| Iowa | -1.6% | -0.8% |
| Montana | -1.5% | 1.3% |
| New Jersey | -1.1% | -1.0% |
| Massachusetts | -1.1% | 0.9% |
| Louisiana | -0.9% | 2.5% |
| Oklahoma | -0.8% | -0.4% |
| Pennsylvania | -0.8% | -0.1% |
| Texas | -0.7% | 2.4% |
| Mississippi | -0.7% | 4.8% |
| Vermont | -0.4% | 2.5% |
| North Carolina | -0.3% | 0.9% |
| Virginia | -0.2% | 0.9% |
| Tennessee | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| South Carolina | 0.5% | 3.2% |
| Hawaii | 0.6% | 4.4% |
| Indiana | 0.8% | 2.2% |
| Kansas | 1.0% | 3.7% |
| Nebraska | 1.1% | 1.1% |
| Washington, D.C. | 1.3% | 1.0% |
| South Dakota | 1.5% | 0.6% |
| Alaska | 2.2% | 3.1% |
| New York | 3.2% | 3.6% |
| North Dakota | 3.5% | 4.2% |
| Wyoming | 3.6% | 2.4% |
| West Virginia | 8.6% | 10.7% |
Source: CoreLogic.
