What is good for the home buyer, might not be best for the economy. Home prices continue to slide downward in most markets, but the recent drop is not as bad as originally reported. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index indicates that US home prices fell 0.1 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from March to April. The previously reported 1.1 percent decline in March was revised to a 1.4 percent decline. For the 12 months ending in April, US prices fell 6.8 percent. The US index is 11.2 percent below its April 2007 peak.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. For the nine Census Divisions, seasonally-adjusted monthly price changes from March to April ranged from -0.7 percent in the West South Central Division to +1.3 percent in the Mountain Division.
“Although monthly data are volatile, we may be starting to see signs of stabilization in prices for houses funded by conventional conforming loans, as the HPI is only down 0.3 percent for the first four months of the year,” said Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James B. Lockhart.
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