Home Prices Gain 0.6% in FHFA Index

Amid reports of subdued home sales in the year's closing months, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) delivered a piece of good news in the form of continued house price gains.

The agency's latest House Price Index (HPI) showed a month-to-month gain of 0.6 percent in October, picking up steam after posting no change in September.

Year-over-year, October home prices were up 4.5 percent, FHFA reported. As of the most recent report, the index is 5.1 percent below its April 2007 peak and is roughly in line with where it was in September 2005.

Because FHFA's index is calculated using home sales information from mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it excludes data from jumbo mortgages and is considered a more accurate gauge of prices for middle-class homes.

Home prices fell month-over-month in three of the nine census divisions, dipping 0.3 percent in the Pacific, 0.2 percent in the West South Central, and 0.1 percent in the Middle Atlantic.

The rest of the divisions posted increases, led by a 1.5 percent improvement in the South Atlantic.

Though it lost the most on a monthly basis, the Pacific was again the strongest division year-over-year, posting a 6.0 percent increase over October 2013. The Middle Atlantic experienced the smallest annual gain at 0.8 percent, making it the only division to see growth of less than 1 percent.