The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Wednesday morning that U.S. home prices rose 1.3% year over year in the first quarter of 2016. Compared with the first quarter of 2015, the inflation-adjusted home price has gained 5.7%. Home prices rose 0.7% sequentially in March.
The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses with mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
The consensus estimate for March called for a month-over-month increase of 0.5%.
Over the past 12 months, gains have been greatest in the Pacific states, up 9.5%, and least in the Middle Atlantic states, which are up 2.3%. The year-over-year index rose in all nine Census Bureau divisions in March.
The top five states for home price appreciation in the 12-month period through March 2016 are Oregon (11.8%), Florida (11.2%), Washington (10.9%), Nevada (9.4%) and Colorado (9%).
The metropolitan area posting the highest appreciation was West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla., where home prices rose 16.7%. Prices were weakest in El Paso, Texas, up just 2.8%.
Home prices posted month-over-month gains in seven of nine Census Bureau divisions. Only the Middle Atlantic (down 0.3%) and New England (down 0.2%) regions showed a decline. The Mountain region posted the largest month-over-month price gain, up 1.7%. The Pacific region posted a gain of 1.2%, the West South Central region rose 0.9%, the South Atlantic region gained 0.8%, the East North Central region rose 0.7%, the East South Central division added 0.2% and the West North Central region remained unchanged.
Across the United States, home prices rose 6.1% year over year from March 2015.
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