Nation’s home prices up, but fell compared to ’10
7/1/2011NEW YORK — U.S. home prices rose for the second month in a row in May but fell compared to a year earlier, data analysis company CoreLogic said Thursday.
CoreLogic’s home price index rose 0.8-percent in May from the month before, though prices were still down 7.4 percent from a year ago. Excluding distressed sales, prices declined just 0.4-percent year over year.
Relative strength in the non-distressed market, a slow decline in the number of homes expected to go on the market — known as shadow inventory — and stabilization in the amount of underwater homeowners are all positive signs, said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.