New report shows Triangle home prices flat over past year

A new report from real estate data provider CoreLogic shows that home prices in the Triangle have remained largely flat over the past year.

Home prices, including distressed sales, increased 1.5 percent in the Raleigh-Cary market in October compared to the same period a year ago, according to CoreLogic. Prices in the Durham-Chapel Hill market declined 1.1 percent over that same period.

Those numbers were well below the strong gains recorded nationwide. Home prices in the U.S. increased 6.3 percent in October compared to the same period a year ago, according to CoreLogic.

How accurate is CoreLogic's pricing index? Hard to tell. CoreLogic uses a repeat-sales index that tracks increases and decreases in prices for the same homes over time, which it claims provides a more accurate view of pricing trends.

Locally, many real estate watchers often look to the average home price data provided by Triangle Multiple Listing Services. That data, however, really just provides a snapshot of the homes that sold during that period and may not be a very good indication of where prices are headed.

Triangle home prices were still falling in the third quarter according to the Housing Price Index published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The two metropolitan areas in the Triangle, Durham-Chapel Hill and Raleigh-Cary, have seen 14 consecutive quarters of housing price declines, according to the HPI, which is based on average price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same properties.

But the size of those declines have been getting smaller over the past year. In the third quarter they were the smallest since the HPI index turned negative in the second quarter of 2009.