CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) shows that home prices in the USA are up 6.7 % year-over-year (reported up 1.0 % month-over-month). CoreLogic HPI is used in the Federal Reserves’ Flow of Funds to calculate the values of residential real estate.

Analyst Opinion of CoreLogic’s HPI

CoreLogic year-over-year rate of growth has been steady for three years – with a higher number issued initially and later significantly downwardly revised in the following months. This months number will be reduced further in the coming months – and will end up near 6.0 % growth. According to CoreLogic:

…. revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results.

Note that CoreLogic forecasts:

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 4.7 percent on a year-over-year basis from February 2018 to February 2019, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to be flat from February 2018 to March 2018.

Dr Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic stated:

A number of western states have had hot housing markets. Idaho Nevada, Utah and Washington all had home prices up more than 11 percent over the last year. With the recent rise in mortgage rates, affordability has fallen sharply in these states.

Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, stated:

Family income is rising more slowly than home prices and mortgage rates, meaning that the mortgage payment takes a bigger bite out of income for new homebuyers.

Caveats Relating to Home Price Indices

There is no such thing as an “accurate” home price index. CoreLogic HPI is a repeat sales type index which should not be skewed by changes in the mix of home sales. For more information, please read House Price Indexes – Methodology And Revisions (2014).