Home prices jump most in 7 years

WASHINGTON – U.S. home prices soared 12.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the biggest gain since February 2006, as more buyers competed for fewer homes.

Real estate data provider CoreLogic says prices rose in April from the previous April in 48 states. Prices also rose 3.2 percent in April from March, much better than the previous month-to-month gain of 1.9 percent.

Price gains in Minnesota's biggest metro areas were more modest than the overall national gain. In the Twin Cities, for example, year-over-year prices were up 7.4 percent, with the smallest gains coming in the Rochester area, where prices increased 5.9 percent.

The state has seen far less speculation than the "sand states," including Nevada, Arizona and California, where annual price increases were in the double digits largely due to deep demand by speculators for steeply discounted foreclosures.

Last month the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors reported that during May the number of such distressed listings coming on the market had fallen dramatically — about 30 percent compared with last year. That bodes well for future price increases in the Twin Cities metro, which are expected to be more subdued but durable, compared with the rest of the nation.

Nevada led the states with prices that jumped 24.6 percent from a year earlier. California's gain was next at 19.4 percent, followed by Arizona's 17.3 percent, Hawaii's 17 percent and Oregon's 15.5 percent.

More people are looking to purchase homes. But the number of homes for sale is 14 percent lower than it was a year ago. The supply shortage has contributed to the price increases.

Home sales and prices began to recover last year, six years after the housing bust. They have been buoyed by steady job gains and low mortgage rates.

Sales of previously occupied homes ticked up to a 3½-year high in April, according to the National Association of Realtors. And they are likely to keep growing: A measure of signed contracts to buy homes rose to its highest level in three years in April. There is generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.

The limited supply of homes has also made builders more willing to ramp up construction. That's creating more construction jobs. Applications for building permits rose in April to the highest level in nearly five years.

Prices rose in April from the previous year in 94 out of the 100 largest U.S. cities, CoreLogic said. That's up from 88 in the previous month.

Los Angeles and Phoenix reported the biggest price gains among the cities, CoreLogic said. Prices in both cities leapt 19.2 percent compared with a year earlier.

Despite the large gains, home prices are more than 22 percent below their April 2006 peak, the CoreLogic survey found.

In Nevada, they are still 47.3 percent below their peak, and in Florida, prices are 40.5 percent below their peak.