California home prices best most other states

By Jennifer Davies, UNION-TRIBUNE
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 6 a.m.

When it comes to rising home prices, California is in the top three of states, says a recent report by CoreLogic, a market research firm.

In June, home prices in California, including distressed sales, increased by 5.9 percent from a year ago, behind only South Dakota at 6.9 percent and Maine at 6.4 percent. Rounding out the top five was Virginia with a 4.7 percent increase and the District of Columbia at 4.3 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, Idaho saw the greatest depreciation in June from a year ago, with prices dropping 9.1 percent. Alabama prices fell 3.8 percent. Oregon prices were down 3.5 percent, followed by Washington state with prices decreasing 3.4 percent and New Mexico with a 3.2 percent drop.

National home prices increased 1.4 percent in June from a year ago but fell 2.3 percent from the previous month.

Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said he expects further drops in the coming months.

"Prices are expected to further moderately decline as the economy remains weak through the fall."

Interestingly, if you exclude distressed sales, California is still No. 3 in price appreciation but with a smaller increase of 4.4 percent. In that category, the District of Columbia is tops with home prices rising 6.3 percent from June of 2009 and South Dakota is second at 6.3 percent.

Nevada had the greatest depreciation when excluding distressed sales, with a 6.8 percent price drop. Troubled real estate markets Arizona (-5.8) and Michigan (-4.8) rounded out the bottom three.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... er-states/