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June home prices rise 0.7% from May but fall 6.8% from June 2010

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U.S. home prices rose 0.7% in June from May, according to a home price index released Wednesday, although some of that increase is probably the result of seasonal variations.

The home price index, which includes so-called distressed properties, fell by 6.8% in June when compared with the same month last year, according to Santa Ana research firm CoreLogic.

Excluding foreclosures and other distressed properties, prices were up 1.5% in June over May. They fell 1.1% when compared with June 2010. Distressed sales include foreclosure properties as well as short sales, a transaction in which the bank allows a property to be sold for less than the outstanding debt on the property.

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“While there is a consistent and sustained seasonal improvement in prices over the last three months, prices are lower than a year ago due to the decline in prices after the expiration of the tax credit last year,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming said.

The most recent Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of prices in 20 major metropolitan areas showed a 1% increase in May compared with April but a 4.5% decline from May 2010. The Case-Shiller index is probably the most widely followed home-price gauge, but many economists and analysts also look to the CoreLogic home price index as an indicator of where the housing market is headed.

alejandro.lazo@latimes.com

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