Metro home-price appreciation improves for third month in a row

SINGLE-FAMILY HOME PRICES rose 9 percent in the Providence-Warwick metro area in March over a year earlier, after a 6 percent increase in February, the third consecutive month of improvement in the region's home price index, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. / COURTESY CORELOGIC
SINGLE-FAMILY HOME PRICES rose 9 percent in the Providence-Warwick metro area in March over a year earlier, after a 6 percent increase in February, the third consecutive month of improvement in the region's home price index, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. / COURTESY CORELOGIC

PROVIDENCE – The Providence-Warwick metro area saw single-family home prices increase 9 percent in March compared with the same month last year, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index report released Tuesday.

The 9 percent increase in March represented improvement over the 6 percent year-over-year increased reported a month earlier in February, and was the third consecutive month of improvement in the region’s home price index.

In addition to reporting the metro-area data, CoreLogic noted that the Home Price Index for Rhode Island gained 10.3 percent year over year in March, a gain on the 6 percent increase in February.

Massachusetts, conversely, saw a slowdown in home-price appreciation, reporting a 7 percent year-over-year gain in March compared with the 8.3 percent increase reported the previous month.

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Nationwide, home prices increased 11.1 percent in March compared with March 2013.

“Home prices continue to rise across the nation, but affordability, tight credit and supply concerns are becoming an increasing drag on purchase market activity,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “In many markets – especially major metro areas like Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York – home prices are being driven up at double-digit rates fueled by a lack of inventory and record levels of cash purchases.”

Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, added that the slowdown in new and existing home sales nationwide for March is a cause for concern entering the spring buying season.

The five states with the highest home price appreciation in the 12 months through March were California with a 17.2 percent gain, Nevada with 15.5 percent, Georgia with 12.4 percent, Hawaii with 12.3 percent and Oregon with 12.2 percent.

Nationally, home prices are now within 20.1 percent of the historical price peak in April 2006, CoreLogic reported, but Rhode Island’s peak-to-current price gap remains one of the largest, with home prices 28.1 percent below 2006 peak levels.

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