Home prices are still struggling in the residential housing market, as a report from CoreLogic showed a decline for the fourth consecutive month.
The November Home Price Index showed a 1.4 percent decline in November when compared with October's figures. National home prices, when including distressed residential home sales, dropped 4.3 percent in November when compared with the same point in 2010. However, without distressed sales, prices year-over-year only dropped 0.6 percent in November.
"With one month of data left to report, it appears that the healthy, non-distressed market will be very modestly down in 2011," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "Distressed sales continue to put downward pressure on prices, and is a factor that must be addressed in 2012 for a housing recovery to become a reality."
Home price declines may not be surprising, especially when considering usual seasonal trends. However, with low home prices may be an increased interest in homebuying from consumers, as affordability is important to many in a struggling economy.