US Housing Prices Rise For Third Month In May: CoreLogic

By Roland Li | July 02 2012 10:53 AM

U.S. home prices rose 2 percent in May, compared to the prior year, another sign the beleaguered housing market is stabilizing, data firm CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) said Monday.

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Prices have increased for three consecutive months on both an annual and monthly basis. Excluding distressed sales -- typically foreclosures or short sales -- prices rose by 2.7 percent on an annual basis. CoreLogic forecasts a 1.4 percent increase in prices between May and 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,” Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic said. “Tighter inventory is contributing to broad, but modest, price gains nationwide and more significant gains in the harder-hit markets, like Phoenix.”

Despite the report, shares of several homebuilders including Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) and Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL) fell in early Monday trading.

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