CoreLogic released its December Home Price Index (HPI), showing that home prices declined for the fifth month in a row in the U.S. According to the HPI, national home prices including distressed sales fell 5.46 percent in December compared with December 2009. Excluding distressed sales, the December year-over-year change was -2.31 percent.

Annual data for 2010, however, showed stabilized home prices with CoreLogic’s HPI depicting no change when compared with 2009.

“It was a bumpy ride which ended with a net gain/loss of zero,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Despite the continued monthly decline in home prices and year-over-year depreciation, we’re encouraged that on an annual basis we’re unchanged relative to a year ago. Excess supply continues to drive prices downward, but the silver lining is that the rate of decline is decelerating,” he said. He attributed the “bumpy ride” to improved tax credits following declines as credits expired.

According to the CoreLogic December HPI data, the five states with the highest appreciation in home sales were North Dakota (+5.53 percent), Hawaii (+3.79 percent), West Virginia (+3.74 percent), New York (+1.66 percent) and Vermont (+.65 percent).

States experiencing the highest depreciation were Idaho (-14.61 percent), Alabama (-13.14 percent), Arizona (-10.94 percent), Oregon (-9.6 percent) and Missouri (-8.82 percent).

For the largest core based statistical areas, Phoenix experienced a 9.74% HPI decline; for Chicago, a 6.59% decline; and for Atlanta, home prices lost 6.43%; according to the index.

Over the longer team, 2010 shows the first non-negative year for the CoreLogic HPI since 2006. The peak-to-current change in the national HPI (April 2006 to December 2010) was -31.6 percent.

Written by Elizabeth Ecker