National home price gains decreased to 6.3% in September from 7.3% in August but remained positive across all four regions, according to the monthly Home Data Index monthly report from Clear Capital, a data and software provider to the mortgage industry.
The national yearly price decline improved 2.2% from -12.1% in August for a year-on-year loss of -9.9% in September. It marks the first single-digit loss for the nation since the summer of 2007.
Prices in the Midwest gained 13.3% over the quarter, bringing its yearly loss to -9.1%. That’s closer to the South’s -8%, produced from 5.2% quarterly gains. The Northeast gained 4.5% over the quarter, taking its yearly price decline down to -8.2%. In the West, prices continue to improve, registering a 2.9% gain over the quarter and a 1.6% climb over six months, but its yearly loss of -16.2% leads the other regions.
The national real estate-owned (REO) saturation rate, which is the percentage of REO properties sold compared to all sales in the last quarter, fell to 28.6% from last month’s quarterly value of 30.1%. The 1.5% decline is a slower rate than the 3.2% drop in August. The saturation rate is still 12.3 percentage points lower than the rate seen last winter.
“Amid these conditions, it’s notable that the recent price gains have occurred alongside a record number of REO sales, indicating that the reductions in REO saturation has been caused by non-REO sale volumes outpacing the growth in REO sales,” according to the report. “This demand for the non-REO segment is important if a broad recovery is to be sustained.”
Drilling down to the metropolitan markets, Riverside, Calif. and Orlando, Fla. showed positive quarterly gains for the first time since the middle of 2006. Prices in Riverside gained 0.5%, and Orlando’s grew 1.2%.
“As anticipated, the strong gains we’ve been experiencing this summer are showing signs of softening,” said Kevin Marshall, Clear Capital president. “But growth remains sufficiently strong—providing hope as we head into a winter that will test the strength of the recovery.”
Write to Jon Prior.
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