FHFA: U.S. Home Prices Remain Flat in April

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has reported that its monthly House Price Index (HPI) showed no change (0.0 percent) in U.S. house prices for April from the prior month.  The monthly change in the FHFA HPI for March remained at 0.7 percent as previously reported. The FHFA HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages either sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  From April 2013 to April 2014, house prices were up 5.9 percent.  The U.S. index is 6.9 percent below its April 2007 peak and is roughly the same as the July 2005 index level. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from March 2014 to April 2014 ranged from -1.3 percent in the New England division to +0.6 percent in the East South Central division.  The 12-month changes were all positive ranging from +1.7 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +10.7 percent in the Pacific division.