LOS ANGELES, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. home prices are projected to increase 4.2 percent on a year-on-year basis from November 2017 to November 2018, according to a new report released Tuesday.

Home prices in the United States are up both year over year and month over month, showed real estate researcher CoreLogic's Home Price Index.

Home prices nationally increased year over year by 7 percent from November 2016 to November 2017, and on a month-over-month basis home prices increased by 1 percent in November 2017 compared with October 2017.

According to CoreLogic Market Condition Indicators data, an analysis of housing values in the country's 100 largest metropolitan areas based on housing stock, 37 percent of metropolitan areas have an overvalued housing stock as of November 2017.

When looking at only the top 50 markets based on housing stock, 50 percent were overvalued, 14 percent were undervalued and 36 percent were at value.

Las Vegas is on the top of the list of metropolitan areas being overvalued, showing a double-digit 12-month price gain of 11.1 percent.

In Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 7.5 percent in November 2017 compared with November 2016. On a month-over-month basis, home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 0.7 percent in November 2017 compared with October 2017.

"Rising home prices are good news for home sellers, but add to the challenges that home buyers face," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, in the report emailed to Xinhua.

"Growing numbers of first-time buyers find limited for-sale inventory for lower-priced homes, leading to both higher rates of price growth for 'starter' homes and further erosion of affordability," he added.

"Without a significant surge in new building and affordable housing stock, the relatively high level of growth in home prices of recent years will continue in most markets," said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

"Although policymakers are increasingly looking for ways to address the lack of affordable housing, much more needs to be done soon to see a significant improvement over the medium term."

CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider.

The CoreLogic Home Price Index is built on industry-leading public record, servicing and securities real-estate databases and incorporates more than 40 years of repeat-sales transactions for analyzing home price trends.