Clear Capital released its Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report with data through November 2011.
Report highlights include:
· U.S. quarter-over-quarter home prices remained flat, posting a slight a 0.3 percent increase, down from the 0.6 percent quarterly increase reported last month.
· Quarterly price movements have become more aligned across the four regions within the U.S., with only 2 percentage points separating the highest performing region (Midwest at 1.2 percent) and the lowest performing region (West at -0.8 percent).
· Though the national year-over-year price change of -2.2 percent showed slight improvement over last month’s report (-2.8 percent), it marked 14 consecutive months of yearly declines.
· REO saturation rates remain stable nationally at 24.6 percent of all transactions.
· The Atlanta MSA bucked the nationwide trend of stability, posting a -9.7 percent drop in prices quarter-over-quarter.
“The overall market stability in this month’s report gives me hope that housing markets are settling after a very turbulent two years,” said Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital. “With only a one percent drop in national home prices since January and virtually no change in prices over the last six months, strong evidence suggests the big swings that many market participants are accustomed to could become a thing of the past.
“Although many of the nation’s major markets are experiencing no significant movement in prices, there are still several micro markets that are underperforming the overall market due to high levels of REO saturation. As lien holders continue to process their foreclosures and the flow of REOs continue to come to market, it will be critical for industry participants to ensure they understand the micro economic nature of specific markets.”
Prices flat as the Great Plains
· National home prices saw little movement across quarterly, six month, and yearly time periods.
· The West region experienced a slight improvement in quarterly price performance with a smaller decline than last month and remains the weakest of the four regions.
· The Midwest, South and Northeast regions each turned in positive, but weaker quarterly numbers, compared to last month’s report.
The 0.3 percent increase for U.S. national home prices, after the 0.6 percent reported last month shows national home price gains continuing to stabilize and soften from those seen over the summer buying season.
Three of the four regions were generally flat, posting price changes of less than one percent quarter-over-quarter. The Midwest was the only region to see prices move above that threshold with a stronger 1.2 percent quarterly gain.
The West remained the only region to experience a quarterly price decline of -0.8 percent, showing a modest improvement over last month’s -1 percent. As this improvement comes at the beginning of the winter slow down, it suggests the stubborn quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year declines seen consistently in the hard hit region may be easing.