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State of Affairs PRESENTS TOP NEWS DataQuick reports four hard-hit states—Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada—saw double-digit price growth over the last year, while other markets averaged gains of 2.5 percent. Dr. Gordon Crawford, VP of analytics for DataQuick, says recent growth rates may be overcompensating for home prices' overcorrecting decline during the downturn. As a result, he says DataQuick expects price increases in these markets to slow to a level that is more in line with the rest of the country. DataQuick's Property Intelligence Report (PIR) for February assessed market activity in the nation's 42 largest counties. The company found home prices increased in 34 counties on a monthly and quarterly basis. Annually, prices moved in a positive direction in 35 counties. Sales figures weren't quite as impressive, with 22 of the 42 counties studied experiencing month-over-month increases in home sales in February. Year-over-year, sales rose in 30 counties. At the same time, foreclosures trended down in 24 and 25 counties on a monthly and yearly basis, respectively. Despite the overall positive news on the housing front, Crawford maintains a cautious attitude. He says uncertainty surrounding a number of factors—including unemployment, domestic fiscal issues, and persistent financial problems in the Eurozone—makes it difficult to value real estate, dampening activity from both buyers and sellers. Note: The state-by-state trends are based on a compilation of February 2013 real estate public records data and proprietary mortgage loan performance transactions provided by LPS Applied Analytics as well as a preliminary unemployment rate for February 2013 based upon public information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. LPS Applied Analytics is a trusted resource for mortgage lenders, servicers, and investors—providing market-leading data and analytics solutions to help them succeed. These offerings allow professionals to improve performance, proactively identify risk, create mitigation strategies, and accurately estimate collateral value. An integral part of parent company Lender Processing Services' (LPS) end-to-end solution suite, LPS Applied Analytics products include: property, MLS, and mortgage performance data; mortgage and real estate analytics; lead generation; portfolio monitoring and analytics; valuations; and property tax reporting. To learn more about LPS visit LPSvcs.com.