Central Valley home prices continued their annual upward trend in October, according to new data from real estate information firm CoreLogic.

---

Fresno home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 4.9 percent in October compared to last year. On the month-over-month basis, home prices in Fresno remained unchanged.

In the Hanford-Corcoran area, home prices were up 5.3 percent in October compared to last year, but down 0.7 percent on the month-over basis.

In Madera, home prices were up 11.7 percent in October compared to last year, and also up 2.6 percent compared to September.

In Visalia-Porterville, prices were up 7.3 percent year-over-year, and also up 1.3 percent month-over-month.

Nationally, home prices were up 6.7 percent in October compared to last year, and also up 1.1 percent month-over-month.

“While national home prices increased 6.7 percent, only nine states had home price growth at the same rate of growth or higher than the national average because the largest states, such as Texas, Florida and California, are experiencing high rates of home price appreciation,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic.

“Home prices are continuing to soar across much of the U.S. led by major metro areas such as Boston, Los Angeles, Miami and Denver. Prices are being fueled by a potent cocktail of high demand, low inventories and historically low interest rates,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Looking forward to next year, nationwide home prices are expected to climb another 5 percent in many parts of the country to levels approaching the pre-recession peak.”