Us house prices up for 17th month in a row

On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 1.8 percent in July 2013 compared to June 2013, according to the group's latest house price index.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased on a year-over-year basis by 11.4 percent in July 2013 compared to July 2012. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.7 percent in July 2013 compared to June 2013. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

That growth is set to continue, acording to CoreLogic's Pending HPI, which indicates that August 2013 home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to rise by 12.3 percent year-over-yearand rise by 0.4 percent month-over-month. Excluding distressed sales, August 2013 home prices are poised to rise 12.2 percent year over year from August 2012 and by 1.2 percent month over month from July 2013.

"Home prices continued to surge in July," said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "Looking ahead to the second half of the year, price growth is expected to slow as seasonal demand wanes and higher mortgage rates have a marginal impact on home purchase demand."

"Home prices continue to climb across the nation in July with markets hit hardest during the downturn leading the way," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.  "Nationally, home prices are now within 18 percent of their peak levels reached in April of 2006."