Sarasota-Bradenton home prices surge 13%

The residential market in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton region continues its rapid recovery.

The latest good data: Home prices, including distressed sales, increased 13.2% in April 2014 over April 2013, according to a report from Irvine, Calif.-based data firm CoreLogic. Home prices including distressed sales rose 3.3% in April over March, the report adds.

The region's price uptick mirrors a national trend. Home prices nationwide, according to CoreLogic, increased 10.5% in April 2014 over April 2013. That's 26 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices, CoreLogic reports.

“Home prices are continuing to rise as we head into the summer months,” CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi says in the release. “The purchase market continues to suffer from a dearth of inventory which we expect will continue to drive prices up over the year.”

Even the amount of mortgages in negative equity in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton region is on a positive trend line. CoreLogic, in a separate report, says 22%, or 39,782, of all residential properties with a mortgage in the region were in negative equity in the first quarter. That's down from 24.3%, or 43,870 properties, in the fourth quarter.