FHFA: Home Prices Rise for 16th Consecutive Month in May

U.S. house price appreciation continued in May 2013, rising 0.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly House Price Index (HPI). The May HPI change marks the sixteenth consecutive monthly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index. The previously reported 0.7 percent increase in April was revised downward to a 0.5 percent increase. The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages either sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Compared to May 2012, house prices were up 7.3 percent in May. The U.S. index is 11.2 percent below its April 2007 peak and is roughly the same as the January 2005 index level. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from April to May ranged from -1.5 percent in the East South Central division to +1.8 percent in the South Atlantic division, while the 12-month changes ranged from +2.7 percent in the East South Central division to +15.8 percent in the Pacific division.