December 23, 2011 (Shirley Allen)
Home prices in the United States fell a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in October following a revised 0.4 percent gain in September according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index (HPI).
October’s home prices were 2.8 percent lower than they were a year ago and since the market peak in April 2007, home prices have declined 19.2 percent and are at roughly the same levels last seen in February of 2004
FHFA gathers its data by calculating purchase prices of houses backed by mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The data is then broken down into nine geographic Census Divisions.
Only three of the nine Census Divisions posted monthly price gains in October with the East South Central Division posting the largest price gain of 2.0 percent. The West North Central division posted the largest decline, falling 0.7 percent during the month.
Seven of the nine of the Divisions experienced year-over-year price declines with the Pacific and Mountain Divisions both posting the largest decline of 5.5 percent. The only two areas that posted an increase in annual home prices were the West South Central Division and the East South Central Division which posted increases of 0.7 and 0.1 percent, respectively.
Source: FHFA
Census Divisions:
Pacific: Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California
Mountain: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
West North Central: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri
West South Central: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana
East North Central: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio
East South Central: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama
New England: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut
Middle Atlantic: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
South Atlantic: Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
Tags: FHFA, home prices, HPI, census divisions, price gains, price declines
Source:
FHFA
