U.S. Home Prices Rise 7.1 Percent Annually in February

U.S. house prices rose 0.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from January to February, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index (HPI). For the 12 months ending in February, U.S. house prices rose 7.1 percent. The U.S. index is 13.6 percent below its April 2007 peak and is roughly the same as the October 2004 index level. U.S. house prices have not declined on a monthly basis since January 2012. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from January to February ranged from -0.6 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +1.7 percent in the South Atlantic division, while the 12-month changes ranged from +1.9 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +15.3 percent in the Pacific division.