U.S. home prices headed a seasonally adjusted 0.7% higher for April, according to a Federal Housing Finance Agency report (link opens as PDF) released today.
After jumping a revised 1.5% the previous month, this latest price increase didn't live up to analysts' expectations of a 1.2% month-to-month rise. April's improvement marks the 15th consecutive monthly increase in purchase-only home prices. Compared to April 2012, house prices were up 7.4% in April. The U.S. index is 11.7% below its April 2007 peak and is roughly the same as the January 2005 index level, according to the report.
Source: FHFA.gov.
On a regional level, gains remain unequal among the Census divisions. The Mountain region (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) saw 2.2% increases in home prices. The West South Central region (Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana), New England Region (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut), and South Atlantic Region (Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida) all recorded 0.2% price slumps .
Looking back over the last 12 months, in the Pacific region (Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California) prices have shot up 17.1%, while the Middle Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) region lags the nation with 2.9% gains.
The Housing Price Index is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages either sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
