Distressed sales 'hold US house prices back'

House prices in the US climbed marginally in June compared to May, new figures show; however, values are still down compared to the same period in 2010.

Data published by CoreLogic revealed that prices of homes in the US increased by 0.7 per cent in June over the previous month, but that they are down 6.8 per cent on an annual basis.

When distressed sales were taken out of the index, the firm noted that values were just 1.1 per cent lower than in June last year.

Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Illinois and Minnesota were the states to see the prices of dwellings fall furthest when distressed transactions were accounted for.

However, New York, the District of Colombia, North Dakota, Alaska and Nebraska all managed to experience an appreciation in values on their property markets during June.

Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, commented: "The difference between the overall HPI (house price index) and our index excluding distressed sales indicates that the price declines are more concentrated in the distressed sales market."

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel though as the National Association of Realtors revealed last month that pending residential real estate transactions for June increased compared to May.

According to the organisation, this is likely to result in a rise in the number of completed sales over the coming months.
 

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