Feb. 5, 2013, 10:01 a.m. EST
Home prices see best climb since recession
By Steve Goldstein,
MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. house prices climbed the fastest
last year since the bursting of the bubble, according to data released Tuesday
that show the considerable distance to go before the housing market reaches
pre-recession peaks.
U.S. home prices grew 0.4% in December to stretch the year-on-year gain to
8.3%, the strongest advance since May 2006, CoreLogic said Tuesday.
House in Kahala, Oahu, Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii
prices rose 12.5%, CoreLogic reports.
CoreLogic said 46 of 50 states registered gains for the year. Arizona has the
strongest year-on-year appreciation at 20.2%, though prices are down 39.8% there
from the peak. 
Nationally, prices are down 26.9% from the April 2006 peak.
CoreLogic’s pending index forecasts a 1% monthly drop in January, reflecting a seasonal winter slowdown.
Mortgage rates near record lows, a dwindling backlog of foreclosures and distressed activity, and a slowly improving jobs market have all put a wind at housing’s back. Low inventories of both existing and new properties also has helped prices.
In a note to clients published Tuesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Michelle Meyer forecasts prices (using a somewhat different house-price gauge, the S&P/Case-Shiller index) to rise about 5% this year with housing starts up another 25%.
Meyer said the market still isn’t back to normal, with credit availability among the biggest worries.
“We anticipate some easing of lending standards this year, but it likely will take time for credit to flow freely again,” Meyer said.
The Federal Reserve’s senior loan officer survey, released Tuesday, showed lending standards haven’t budged very much
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