Western U.S. Showing Strong Home Price Recovery in FHFA Report

Home prices have increased 4.7 percent over the past 12 months according to information released late Tuesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).  The Agency's House Price Index (HPI) for August was up 0.7 percent from July but the original estimate for July was revised down from a 0.2 percent increase to 0.1 percent.  Prices have now returned to the level of June 2004 and are 15.9 percent below the peak in prices reached in April 2007.

Monthly price changes varied widely across the nine census divisions, ranging from -0.5 percent in the East south Central division (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama) which was the only division to post a negative change, to +3.0 in the Pacific division (Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California).   

All nine divisions are positive for the year while in August 2011all were down on an annual basis. Several divisions are showing dramatic increases.  The Mountain division (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) which was particularly hard-hit by the housing crisis is now up 11.4 percent year-over-year and the Pacific division has increased by 8.1 percent. 

The HPI is derived from the purchase price of houses financed through loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.