Even as home prices rise, R.I. still among lowest current compared with peak

HOME-PRICE APPRECIATION was solid from May 2015 to May 2016 in Rhode Island and in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area but fell slightly short of national increases, 5.4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, compared with 5.9 percent across the United States. / COURTESY CORELOGIC
HOME-PRICE APPRECIATION was solid from May 2015 to May 2016 in Rhode Island and in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area but fell slightly short of national increases, 5.4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, compared with 5.9 percent across the United States. / COURTESY CORELOGIC

PROVIDENCE – Single-family home prices increased 5.4 percent in May in Rhode Island compared with a year earlier, according to CoreLogic. The real estate data tracker’s Tuesday release also reported that home prices, including distressed sales, increased 5 percent in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area over the year.
The increases fell short of the national home price index produced by Corelogic, which showed a 5.9 percent increase from May 2015 to May 2016.
“Housing remained an oasis of stability in May with home prices rising year over year between 5 percent and 6 percent for 22 consecutive months,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The consistently solid growth in home prices has been driven by the highest resale activity in nine years and a still-tight housing inventory.”
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, added that “the recent turbulence in financial markets should lead to modestly lower mortgage rates, which will provide even more support to the steadily improving real estate recovery.”
On a month-over-month basis, the HPI increased 1.7 percent for the Ocean State, 1.4 percent for the Providence metro and 1.3 percent across the nation.
Despite the increasing health of the local home market, however, Rhode Island remains one of five states still significantly below their peak prices. Single-family home prices in Nevada stand 32.7 percent less than their peak. Florida is next at 24.3 percent below peak, then Arizona (23.9 percent less than peak), Rhode Island (22.4 percent less than peak, which was in June 2006)), and Maryland (21.8 percent below peak).
CoreLogic also forecast a 1 percent increase in home values for June and a 4.2 percent increase by May 2017 for the state, while it sees a 0.8 percent gain over the month in the United States and a year-over-year gain of 5.3 percent.

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