Home prices picked up 1% in November, according to data released today in the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) monthly House Price Index. The good news was mitigated, however, by a downward revision of October’s numbers, from a previously reported 0.2% monthly decline to a decrease of 0.7% for that month. Annually, U.S. home prices were down 1.8% from November 2010.
FHFA’s index is based on purchase prices of homes across the nine census divisions with mortgages purchased or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Among the nine census divisions, November’s strongest performer on both a monthly and yearly basis was the West South Central division, which includes Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. Prices across that region gained 2.1% compared to October and year-over-year.
Eight of the nine regions reported monthly gains in November. Among the divisions, Pacific was up 0.7%; Mountain was up 2.0%; West North Central was up 1.2%; East North Central was up 1.6%; East South Central was up 0.2%; New England was up 0.6%; and South Atlantic improved 0.5%. The Middle Atlantic division was down 0.2%.
However, all but two divisions saw prices decline more than 1.5% on a yearly basis. (The West North Central division remained virtually flat with a slight annual uptick of 0.1%.) The worst performer annually was the Pacific division—which includes Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California—with a 4.2% drop.
Claire Easley is a senior editor at Builder.
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Greenville, SC.
