Home prices crawled forward in February, rising only 0.3% from the previous month but up 4.9% from 2018, according to the latest monthly House Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Because of this, the selection excludes high-end homes bought with jumbo loans or cash sales.
The report explains that across the nine census divisions, the East South Central Division saw the strongest appreciation growth, rising 1.4% in February. Unfortunately, the Middle Atlantic Division didn’t experience growth, as appreciation declined 1.2%.
However, the report highlights that the 12-month changes were all positive, with the Mountain Division reaching the largest gain of 6.5%, and the West South Central Division posting the smallest gain of 3.5%.
These are the states located in each division mentioned:
East South Central: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama
Middle Atlantic: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Mountain: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
West South Central: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana
The chart below compares 12-month price changes to the prior year:
(Click to enlarge)
