California’s Clear Capital released its monthly Home Data Index Market Report Thursday, and the company’s findings show that for the first time since 2006, home price returns for the nation were positive. Driven primarily by strong seasonal sales in the Midwest, the national figures revealed a quarter-over-quarter gain in home prices of 1.7 percent for the month of June.
Looking at Clear Capital’s market data, three of the four U.S. regions in the study saw rolling quarterly price increases. In the Midwest, home values rose 5.3 percent. The Southern territory had a gain of 2 percent. And in the Northeast, residential property values were up 0.1 percent. After experiencing quarterly declines as high as 10.5 percent over the past year, the Western part of the country experienced a price drop of only 0.7 percent, signifying a promising shift in one of the area’s hardest hit by home price depreciations.

Clear Capital reported that all of the highest-performing major markets experienced quarter-over-quarter gains in June. The Ohio markets of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati were the top three performers, returning quarterly increases of 19.6, 15.6 and 12.9 percent, respectively. While reduced-price homes are accounting for a large percentage of home sales in most markets, Clear Capital said that in Cleveland in particular, a drop off in REO saturation indicates more homes are selling for their actual value.
Overall, the lowest performing major markets showed a noticeable decrease in their rates of decline, Clear Capital said, with quarterly results ranging from values losses of 1.4 to 12.4 percent, compared to the previous month’s range of 7.5 to 17 percent declines. Markets in the West with high volumes of REOs still lead the pack in price depreciation. Clear Capital pointed out that Honolulu and San Diego have now made the list of lowest-performing markets, while Detroit, a notable omission from the list, saw a quarter-over-quarter price increase of 0.4 percent. Las Vegas turned in the biggest quarterly decline, -12.4 percent.
Kevin Marshall, president of Clear Capital, said, “We are encouraged to see the first quarterly national appreciation in three years. Foreclosure moratoriums, first-time home buyer incentives, and investment activity have contributed to this springtime appreciation of home price trends. While this does not conclusively indicate that the market has bottomed, dramatic price depreciation rates have been curbed so we see a higher degree of confidence in the housing markets.”