Thanks to ultra-low interest rates, massive all-cash purchases by private equity funds, and Fed-sponsored financial speculation, home prices are now back in bubble territory.

Econintersect: CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) shows that home prices in the USA in March 2014 are up 11.1% year-over-year (reported up 1.4% month-over-month). The year-over-year growth rate was down from the 12.2% reported last month.

4 million homes returned to positive equity in 2013, bringing the total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity to 42.7 million.

The non-seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller home price index (20 cities) for December 2013 (released today) declined slightly but showed the 19th consecutive monthly year-over-year gain in housing prices since the end of the housing stimulus in 2010.