California House Prices Projected To Jump 7.9%

As seen in the Orange County Register:

U.S. house prices will stop falling in March and are projected to be up 4.6% by August 2010, Santa Ana-based data cruncher First American CoreLogic predicted.

State	Aug. ‘10 gain
Maine	12.1%
New Hampshire	11.6%
California	7.9%
Florida	7.3%
New Jersey	6.8%
Idaho	5.8%
Connecticut	5.7%
Rhode Island	5.3%
Hawaii	5.2%
North Dakota	4.9%
U.S.	4.6%

In California, the rate of appreciation will be even higher: up 7.9% from this past August.

If true, California will have the nation’s third-highest appreciation rate, trailing Maine (projected to be up 12.1%) and New Hampshire (up 11.6%).

Florida’s appreciation rate is projected to be number four in the nation at 7.3% next August.

In addition, First American reported:

• U.S. house prices dropped 10.1% in August from a year earlier.
• California ranked fourth in price drops with a year-over-year decline of 12.9% in August.
• The biggest drops occurred in Nevada (-24.4%), Arizona (-19.5%) and Florida (-16.8%).
• Excluding the sale of bank-owned homes and short sales (homes selling for less than their debt), price drops were less severe. U.S. prices for non-distressed homes were down just 6.2%.
• In California non-distressed home prices were down 7.9% from August 2008.