Prices for homes backed by mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued their decline in February, falling 0.2% from March and remained 3.4% behind February, 2009, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index released Thursday. The rate of decline in the index, however, has slowed from the fourth quarter of 2009.
The index in February stood at 193.7, roughly equal to its value in October of 2004.
Regionally, prices on homes backed by Fannie and Freddie rose 0.8% in the Pacific region (index=187), fell 0.9% in the Mountain (index=226.7), rose 1% in the West North Central (index=202.7), rose 0.6% in the West South Central (index=197.4), rose 0.1% in the East North Central (index=171.6), fell 1.3% in the East South Central (index=187.4), fell 1.0% in New England (index=206.9), rose 1.9% in the Middle Atlantic (index=211.3) and fell 1.7% in the South Atlantic (index=191.5).
