Home prices in Northern Colorado were again up compared to last year, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index.
Home prices in the Fort Collins-Loveland metropolitan statistical area increased in April by 2.45 percent, including distressed sales, compared to April 2009. In March, prices increased 1.83 percent year-over-year. Without taking into account distressed sales, Fort Collins-Loveland had a 2.52 percent increase.
In Greeley, prices were up 4.86 percent compared to April 2009, slightly less than March’s year-over-year increase of 5.66 percent. Without accounting for distressed sales, Greeley’s home price index was up about 4 percent in April.
Nationally, home prices increased in April by 2.6 percent, marking the second consecutive month with a year-over-year increase. For March, prices were up 2.3 percent. Since the price index peaked in April 2006, prices have declined 29.5 percent including distressed properties and 21.1 percent without them.
“The monthly increase in the HPI shows the lingering effects of the homebuyer tax credit,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a prepared statement. “We expect that we will see home prices remain strong through early summer, but in the second half of the year we expect price growth to soften and possibly decline moderately.”