FHFA: August Marks 19 Months of Home Price Gains

Marking 19 consecutive months of appreciation, the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) House Price Index"":http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/25626/MonthlyHPIAug102313F.pdf rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis in August. On a yearly basis, the index is up 8.5 percent.

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Prices are now 9.4 percent below their April 2007 peak, according to FHFA.

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Of the nine census divisions, FHFA detected the greatest monthly price increase in the Mountain division, where prices increased 1.3 percent in August.

The greatest monthly decrease took place in the South Atlantic division, where prices declined 0.5 percent.

On a yearly basis, prices in all nine divisions were up, with the greatest increase taking place in the Pacific region, where prices rose 18.2 percent over the year.

The Pacific division was followed by the Mountain division--the only other region to report a double-digit gain over the year--at 13.8 percent.

Price appreciation was lowest in the Middle Atlantic and New England regions, where prices increased 4 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.

The FHFA relies on price data from homes sold to or guaranteed by the GSEs for its House Price Index each month.