Home Prices Rise a Slight 0.2 Percent From June to July

U.S. house prices rose 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from June to July, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index (HPI). The previously reported 0.7 percent increase in June was revised downward to a 0.6 percent increase. For the 12 months ending in July, U.S. prices rose 3.7 percent. The U.S. index is 16.4 percent below its April 2007 peak and is roughly the same as the June 2004 index level. The FHFA uses the purchase price of houses with mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to calculate the HPI. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from June to July ranged from -0.8 percent in the East South Central division to +1.3 percent in the Mountain division while the 12-month changes ranged from -1.4  percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +11.9 percent in the Mountain division.