Home Prices Flatten in Alternate November Index

National home prices remained largely unchanged in the fall, according to the latest FNC Residential Price Index report, released Thursday.

After 30 months of growth in the national housing market, prices dropped off in October and stayed virtually the same in November.

FNC attributes the stagnation to weak housing activity, including droopy sales of existing homes despite the fact that 30-year mortgage rates are down by more than a half percentage point from a year ago.

And while average prices did not get worse in November, the report stated that annual home price appreciation was down to 5.2 percent in November compared to 7.9 percent in June.

While the national market leveled in the fall, some metros saw good gains, and others saw notable drops in home prices. Nashville and Miami saw home prices rise 3.3 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Los Angeles saw a 1.9 percent rise.

At the other end of the spectrum, Washington D.C., saw a 3.1 percent drop in home prices. Prices in Minneapolis and Chicago each dropped more than 2 percent, and prices weakened in New York, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon, as well.

Also on the decline is Houston, which dropped 2 percent in October and another half-percent in November. FNC attributed this drop to falling oil prices' effect on the largest energy hub in Texas.

On the upside, the annual rate of home appreciation in Las Vegas, Orlando, and Riverside is above 14 percent, while annual appreciation almost reached 11 percent in Miami.

FNC's findings are more pessimistic than those of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which reported earlier this week that home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent month-over-month in November. Drawing its data from mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHFA's data can be considered more reflective of middle-class home sales.