U.S. home prices rose for a second consecutive month in May, rising by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today.
The news raises hopes that the housing market might be finding its footing after 10 straight monthly declines, but the news wasn’t all good. April’s previously announced 0.8 percent gain was downsized to 0.2 percent, meaning that current prices appear to be a bit lower than they were a month ago (initial price estimates are often revised the following month). On an annual basis, the FHFA’s national home price index is down an estimated 6.3 percent from May 2010 and has fallen 19.6 percent from its high point in April 2007. U.S. home prices have now returned to roughly their January 2004 level, although there is considerable variation among individual local housing markets. The Mountain region showed the strongest monthly price gain of the nine U.S. Census Read more…
U.S. home prices increased 3.1 percent the second quarter of the year, spurred by seasonal factors and the expiring federal tax credit, according to figures released today by secondary mortgage lender Freddie Mac.
The rate translate to a 13.2 percent gain on an annualize basis when compared to the first quarter of the year. Prices were down 0.2 percent compared to the same period one year earlier. “We saw increases in home values in the second quarter that were very strong across all regions,” said Amy Crew Cutts, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac. “there is no doubt that some of this was due in part to the now-expired homebuyer tax credits which boosted sales activity as well as to the usual seasonal bump we see each Spring.”
Oddly enough, although sales prices increased, home values – a measure that includes both sales prices and appraised home values obtained for mortgage refinancing – declined 0.5 percent during the quarter, an annual rate of 1.8 percent. Freddie Mac re Read more…