Home prices continue to rise in Bradenton. Here’s how they compare statewide and nationally.

Home prices in the Bradenton-Sarasota-North Port area rose 4.05 percent year-over-year in July, but continued to lag larger increases statewide and nationally, according to real estate industry analyst CoreLogic.

Statewide, home prices were up 5.9 percent; nationally, they were up 6.2 percent, CoreLogic said.

It’s generally agreed that the rising prices and tight inventory of existing homes for sale make the Bradenton area a seller’s market, and more challenging for renters looking to buy their first home.

“For us in this market, it’s a normal increase. The smaller increases are better for the market,” Stafford Starcher, an associate with Re/Max Alliance, said of the 4.05 percent rise in prices in July.

“July, August, and September are pretty much our doldrums,” he said. “When the snowbirds get back, that pushes it.”

Looking ahead, CoreLogic forecasts that the national home-price index will increase by 5.1 percent on a year-over-year basis from July 2018 to July 2019.

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices that is calculated using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.

“With increased interest rates and home prices, the CoreLogic Home Price Index is rising at a slower rate than it was a year ago,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “While markets in the western part of the country continue to experience rapid home-price growth, many of those metros are overvalued, and will likely experience a slowdown soon.”

Home price growth in Las Vegas (13.5 percent) was the highest in the country in July, followed by San Francisco (11 percent).

States with the greatest home price growth in July were Nevada (12.9 percent), Idaho (12.3) and Washington (10.4).

States with the smallest increases were North Dakota (0.6 percent), Alaska (0.9) and Connecticut (1.6).

Single-family rent prices have also been on the upswing. Rent prices nationally rose a cumulative 4.1 percent from January to June 2018, CoreLogic previously reported.

The rising rates apartment landlords can charge renters have helped make Bradenton area multi-family housing complexes popular with investors.

The Point at Bella Grove, a 180-unit luxury apartment complex at 3415 Broadway Ave., was one of the most recent changing hands, selling for $38 million.

This story was originally published September 4, 2018 at 12:03 PM.