Fort Myers home prices rise

GULF COAST — According to data by national researcher CoreLogic, year-over-year January housing prices increased in the southern portion of the Gulf Coast while they continued to decline further north.

In its January Home Price Index report, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area was the only market to increase prices on the Gulf Coast from last year. January home prices in that market, including distressed sales, increased by 7% from January 2011, and December prices increased by 2.4% compared with the same month in 2010. Excluding distressed sales, prices grew 4.4% in January and declined by .5% in December compared with a year ago.

CoreLogic reports that housing prices in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, including distressed sales, declined by 1.4% in January and 7% in December compared with the same months a year ago. Excluding distressed sales, those numbers decrease, to a price decline of .1% in January and 1.1% in December compared with the previous year.

For the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area, home prices decreased by 1.6% in January and 6.4% in December compared with those months a year ago when distressed sales are included. When distressed sales are excluded, January sales show an increase of .9% over 2011 and December sales show a decline of 1.3% from December 2010.

Additionally, Florida is third out of the top five states with the largest declines of peak-to-current prices when including distressed transactions, behind Nevada and Arizona. California and Michigan are fourth and fifth, respectively.

CoreLogic, based in Santa Ana, Calif., has one of the largest databases for U.S. real estate in the country, and is a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information.