U.S. house prices edged up 0.7% in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the monthly House Price Index released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Tuesday 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 stands at a rate of 237.9 in August, with the January 1991 value serving as a benchmark rate of 100. From August 2015 to August 2016, house prices have been up 6.4%.
Month-to-month gains were reported in eight of the nine census divisions, led by a 1.2% gain shared by the South Atlantic and New England in August. The East North Central region trailed with a gain of 1.1%, followed by the East South Central (up 0.9%), the Pacific (up 0.5%). The West North Central, Mountain, and Middle Atlantic shared a monthly gain of 0.4%. West North Central is the only region that saw flat results from July to August 2016.
In terms of year-over-year growth, house prices in the Pacific have soared by 7.9%, the fastest pace among all regions. The Mountain and South Atlantic regions posted gains of 7.6% and 7.4%, respectively.
Read the full release at FHFA >>
