Sonoma County March home prices up 6 percent

Sonoma County home prices increased 6 percent in March from a year earlier, property data service CoreLogic reported Tuesday.

In comparison, California home prices jumped 6.3 percent for the same period, and prices nationwide rose 5.9 percent.

Twenty-seven states, plus the District of Columbia, in March rose to within 10 percent of their peak prices. Seven states, including Colorado, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming, reached their highest home prices since January 1976, when CoreLogic began its Home Price Index.

Analysts said the pressure on prices is coming from limited inventory, increased demand, low interest rates and improving consumer confidence.

“All signs are pointing toward continued price appreciation throughout 2015,” said CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi. “In fact, the strong month-over-month gain in March may be a harbinger of accelerating price appreciation as we enter the spring selling season. Tight inventories, job growth and the inexorable impact of demographics and household formation are pushing price levels in many states, and especially large metropolitan areas like Dallas, Denver, Houston, Seattle and San Francisco, toward record levels.”

The Home Price Index tracks increases and decreases in sale prices for the same homes over time. It relies on more than 30 years of repeat sales transactions for both houses and condominiums.

The March figures includes sales of distressed properties. Excluding such sales, county values rose 4.7 percent from a year earlier.