U.S. house prices edged up 0.4% in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the monthly House Price Index released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Thursday morning. Data are compiled from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and are available with a two-month lag.
The U.S. (purchase-only) house price index now stands at a rate of 231.39, with the January 1991 value serving as a benchmark rate of 100. The growth comes after a downwardly revised 0.4% increase in January. From February 2015 to February 2016, house prices have been up 5.6%.
Month-to-month gains were reported in six of the nine census divisions, led by a 1.7% gain in the Middle Atlantic to a seasonally adjusted index of 215.7. The Pacific region came in second with a gain of 1% to an index of 260.6, followed by the West South Central (up 0.7% to 245.8), the Mountain (up 0.5% to 293.7) , the East North Central (up 0.4% to 194.2), and the West North Central (up 0.2% to 233.2). In terms of year-over-year growth, house prices in the Pacific have soared by 8.4%, the fastest pace among all regions.
The biggest decline came in the South Atlantic division, which posed a -0.7% drop in February to an index of 232.3. The East South Central dropped -0.1% to an index of 214.0 during the same month.
The New England house price held at a rate of 224.5 in February, unchanged from January, but posted a 2.5% increase compared to February 2015.
Read the full release at FHFA >>
