HOUSING OUTLOOK: PRICE GAINS IN DOUBLE DIGITS

According to CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI), the 11 percent increase in December home prices represented the 22nd consecutive monthly year-over-year increase.

Freezing temperatures did little to cool the housing market in January. The Pending HPI forecasts home prices to have risen 10.2 percent higher than the year before.

Excluding distressed sales, including short sales and foreclosures, equity sales prices rose 9.9 percent in December and are expected to rise 9.7 percent in January year-over-year.

A slowdown in momentum is not necessarily a halt to brisk housing sales.

"Last year, home prices rose 11 percent, the highest rate of annual increase since 2005, and ten states and the District of Columbia reached new all-time price peaks," said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "We expect the rising prices to attract more sellers, unlocking this pent-up supply, which will have a moderating effect on prices in 2014."

The latest quarterly report from the National Association of REALTORS® suggests that price gains are regional. While 119 out of 164 metropolitan statistical areas (73 percent) reported year-over-year price gains in Q4 2013, 42 areas or 26 percent showed double-digit gains. Forty-three percent recorded lower median prices.

Rising markets slowed down in Q4 from 88% in the third quarter and with 33 percent reporting double-digit growth.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, believes that home prices and mortgage rates are more expensive and are natural drags on higher prices, but that areas that are still seeing large gains will need more inventory for prices to moderate. bevans