Housing US Nevada 2013
A home for sale in Nevada. Reuters

U.S. home prices are on the rise in almost all major cities and up 12.4 percent from last August, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) report.

Overall, the summer has been positive. Prices jumped 1.8 percent between June and July, and are up 1 percentage point since May. August was a little slower, with an increase of just 0.9 percent. Analysts say this is typical for the end of the season and are optimistic about the future.
"Home price gains were negligible month over month in August -- an expected decrease in the pace of appreciation as housing enters the off-season," wrote Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in the report published Monday.
Prices went up in every state. Nevada topped the list with 25.9 percent year-over-year home price appreciation, followed by California, Arizona, Utah and Florida.
Two of the top metropolitan areas to gain were in California. San Bernandino and Los Angeles areas saw more than a 20 percent year-over-year increase in August. Of all the 100 largest cities, Akron, Ohio, was the only one to see prices drop.
Meanwhile, New Mexico had the smallest appreciation, at just 1.54 percent, followed by Vermont, Delaware, West Virginia and Kentucky, which all came in between 2 percent and 3 percent.
These rates all include distressed sales -- which involve assets sold at a loss, usually when the borrowers can no longer afford to pay their mortgage. Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased on a year-over-year basis by 11.2 percent in August 2013 compared to August 2012, and 1 percent between August and July of this year.
While these are significant gains, home prices still remain 17.1 percent below their peak in April 2006. But analysts are optimistic about the next few months.
"We anticipate moderate gains in home prices over the balance of this year, supported by the recent downward trend in rates and continued tight supplies of homes in many markets," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in the report.
Their analysts predict a 12.7 percent price hike for September.