Housing

FHFA Home Price Index Ticked Higher in April

Paul Ausick

Published: June 22, 2016 10:10 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 6:31 am

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Wednesday morning that U.S. home prices rose 0.2% year over year in April. Compared with April 2015, the inflation-adjusted home price has gained 5.9%. Home prices rose 0.8% 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 April called for a month-over-month increase of 0.6%.

Over the past 12 months, gains have been greatest in the Pacific states, up 8.6%, and least in the Middle Atlantic states, where prices are up 1.7%. The year-over-year index rose in all nine Census Bureau divisions in April.

Home prices posted month-over-month gains in seven of nine Census Bureau divisions. Only the Middle Atlantic (down 0.7%) and Mountain (down 0.3%) regions showed a decline. The New England region posted the largest month-over-month price gain, up 1.4%; the West North Central region gained 0.9%; the South Atlantic region gained 0.6%; the Pacific region posted a gain of 0.4%; the East South Central division added 0.3%; the East North Central region rose 0.1%;  and the West South Central region remained unchanged.

Across the United States, home prices rose 5.9% year over year from April 2015.