U.S. home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1% in July, according to a Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) report (link opens as PDF) released today. After increasing a revised 0.6% for June, this latest report marks the 18th consecutive monthly price increase for the index.
Analysts had expected an increase, but their 0.7% estimate proved too conservative for July's jump.
Source: FHFA.gov. The Y axis represents the Index Value (January 1991=100).
The FHFA House Price Index is calculated using single-family home sales price information from mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and, at current levels, is comparable to readings from March 2005.
For the nine Census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from June to July ranged from -0.7% in the East South Central division (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama) to +2.2% in the Pacific division (Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California).
Prices in the Pacific region have made the largest gains in the last year, up 20.8%, while the East South Central region lags the nation at 3.8% price growth over the past 12 months.
Over the past 12 months, home prices have increased 8.8% nationally, but still fall 9.6% below the all-time highs reached in April 2007.
