House prices rose 1.8% in May as the CoreLogic house price index registered its third consecutive monthly increase this spring.
And CoreLogic’s new pending HPI is indicating that prices will rise another 1.4% from May to June.
“The recent upward trend in U.S. home prices is an encouraging signal that we may be seeing a bottoming of the housing down cycle,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive officer of CoreLogic.
The CEO noted that the tight inventory of homes for sale is contributing to modest price gains nationwide and even in the hardest-hit markets like Phoenix.
Overall, the CoreLogic HPI is up 2% from May 2011. Excluding foreclosure and short sales, the HPI rose 2.3% in May for the fourth month in a row.
The Santa Ana, Calif., provider of real estate and mortgage information and analysis released its May HPI report Monday morning.
CoreLogic chief economist Mark Fleming pointed out that price appreciation of lower-priced homes is rebounding more quickly than upper-end homes.
“Home prices below 75% of the national median increased 5.7% from a year ago,” he said, compared to a 1.8% increase for homes priced 125% or more above the median.
