Home prices rose in April offering a glimmer of hope for the U.S. housing market, data analysis firm CoreLogic said on Tuesday.
The CoreLogic home price index rose 1.1 percent on a year-over-year basis in April after falling 0.6 percent in March.
“Home prices are responding to a restricted supply that will likely exist for some time to come-an optimistic sign for the future of our industry,” CoreLogic CEO Anand Nallathambi said in a statement.
Excluding distressed sales, prices jumped 2.6 percent for the month and were up 1.9 percent on a yearly basis. Distressed sales - which include foreclosed homes and properties where the homeowner is behind on payments - are often done at significantly reduced prices.
CoreLogic also, for the first time released a pending home price index which gives an indication of future home prices.
The firm said that based on recent data from Multiple Listing Service, prices are likely to rise another two percent from April to May.
“We see the consistent month-over-month increases within our HPI and Pending HPI as one sign that the housing market is stabilizing,” Nallathambi said.
Of the top 100 statistical areas measured by population, 44 showed year-over-year price declines, down from 54 in March.