LOS ANGELES (LA Times) — Home prices shot up 3.8 percent in July, making their largest year-over-year leap since 2006, according to real estate data provider CoreLogic.

The gain marks the fifth straight rise in the gauge, part of a positive swing following a year and a half of slumps. The last time prices rose so much was in August 2006, when they jumped 4.1 percent.

Without distressed sales — including foreclosures and short sales — national prices were up 4.3 percent compared with last July.

The report, coming as a glut of house-hunters clamor after a shrinking inventory, suggests that the real estate market is “clearly seeing the light at the end of a very long tunnel,” said CoreLogic Chief Executive Anand Nallathambi in a statement.

Compared with June, prices got a 1.3 percent boost in July, according to Santa Ana, Calif.-based CoreLogic. The company forecasts at least an additional 0.6 percent monthly improvement in August, or what would be a 4.6 percent increase compared with 2011.

Arizona led the country in price appreciation with a
16.6 percent surge, followed by Idaho, Utah, South Dakota and Colorado. Delaware’s 4.8 percent plunge was the deepest drop-off in prices, with Alabama, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Illinois also suffering major slips.

Housing, though seemingly in a recovery, is still shaky, according to other data. Consumer confidence is up, helping to push pending home sales to a two-year high, but the job market and the overall economy continue to lag.