FHFA: 4Q Home Prices Up 1.5%

U.S. house prices rose by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported yesterday.

The FHFA House Price Index said house prices rose by 6.2 percent from a year ago. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for December saw an 0.4 percent increase from November.

The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Although interest rates rose sharply during the fourth quarter, our data show no signs of a home price slowdown,” said FHFA Deputy Chief Economist Andrew Leventis. “Although it will certainly take more time for the full effects of the elevated interest rates to be felt, there is no evidence of a normalization in the unusually low inventories of homes available for sale, which has been the primary force behind the extraordinary price gains.”

The report said home prices rose in 46 states and the District of Columbia over the past year. Top states for annual appreciation were 1) Oregon, 11.0 percent; 2) Colorado, 10.6 percent; 3) Florida, 10.4 percent; 4) Washington, 10.2 percent; and 5) Nevada, 8.9 percent.

Among the 100 largest metropolitan areas, annual price increases were greatest in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., where prices increased by 13.2 percent. Prices were weakest in Wilmington, Del., where they fell 1.8 percent.

Of the nine census divisions, the Mountain division experienced the strongest increase in the fourth quarter, posting a 2.1 percent quarterly increase and an 8.0 percent increase over the past year. House price appreciation was weakest in the Middle Atlantic division, where prices rose by 0.9 percent.