Prices to rise in 2010

Home prices to rise 6.75%, study predicts January 3, 2010
A Santa Ana company makes a 2009-10 estimate for county real estate.
By JEFF COLLINS
Santa Ana-based First American CoreLogic projects a 6.75 percent increase to occur in
local home prices over the 12 months ending in October 2010, a smaller increase than
those predicted in past months.
Last month First American projected a 10.94 percent increase in house prices by
September. Before that it projected a 9.53 percent gain by August.
A UCLA forecaster has projected that home prices could climb as much as 16 percent in
2010, while others expect prices to increase by no more than 2 percent to 3 percent, if at
all.
In addition, First American’s Home Price Index shows:
House prices declined 5 percent in October from the year before, compared with a 6.7
percent year-over-year price drop in September.
When sales of distressed houses are excluded, the index of house prices dropped 5.8
percent in October. Distressed sales tend to pull home prices up because of heightened
demand for those residences.
Orange County’s October price compares with a 10.8 percent year-over-year drop in Los
Angeles County, a 9.6 percent drop statewide and a 7.8 percent drop nationally