FHFA: Home Prices Experience 0.3 Percent Rise From July-August

U.S. house price appreciation continued in August 2013, with prices rising 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly House Price Index (HPI). The August HPI change marks the nineteenth consecutive monthly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index. The previously reported 1.0 percent increase in July was revised downward to a 0.8 percent increase. The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages either sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. From August 2012 to August 2013, house prices were up 8.5 percent. The U.S. index is 9.4 percent below its April 2007 peak and is roughly the same as the April 2005 index level. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from July to August ranged from -0.5 percent in the South Atlantic division to +1.3 percent in the Mountain division, while the 12-month changes ranged from +4.0 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +18.2 percent in the Pacific division.