FHFA Home Price Index Rose Slightly in July

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's House Price Index (HPI) for July indicates that seasonally adjusted house prices rose 0.8 percent in July.  At the same time the index was revised down for June from a 0.9 percent increase to 0.7.  Year-over-year the index fell 3.3 percent and is now 18.4 percent below the peak it reached in April 2007.    

The Index fell in eight of the nine census districts with the South Atlantic District (Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida) posting a -0.4 decline.  The highest increase, 3.6 percent, was posted in the West North Central region (Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and both Dakotas) which was also the only region to have an increase (0.2 percent) year over year.  The sharpest drop (-6.9 percent) was in the West followed by the Pacific at -6.7 percent.

The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backed by mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.