A pair of housing reports indicate that U.S. home prices continued to rise, though at a somewhat weaker pace.
The May 27-released Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index for the first quarter showed a 1.3 percent seasonally adjusted increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2013.
On a year-over-year basis, home prices gained 6.6 percent compared to the first-quarter 2013, according to the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
It was the 11th consecutive quarter that the index was higher.
FHFA said its findings were derived from home sales price information on loans acquired or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie.
Despite the gains, FHFA Principal Economist Andrew Leventis called the first-quarter activity weak. He said seasonal factors were partially to blame.
“Modest inventories of homes available for sale likely played a significant role in driving the price increase, which was similar to appreciation in the preceding quarter,” explained Leventis in the report.
Overall, all FHFA census divisions showed quarterly increases, with the Pacific Region leading the gains at 2.1 percent and the Middle Atlantic area trailing a full 2 percentage points behind with its 0.1 percent bump.
A reported 42 states and Washington, D.C., realized rising housing prices this quarter compared to 38 states in the previous quarter. Nevada led the top annual appreciation numbers at 21 percent despite only having a 2.1 percent gain for this quarter.
Vermont trailed the housing price leader board with a 4.7 percent decrease this quarter and a 1.2 percent annual decline, which showed as the only depreciative figure.
On a monthly basis, U.S. prices rose 0.7 percent between February and March, according to FHFA.
But Black Knight Financial Service’s Home Price Index for March had national housing prices realizing an average 1 percent increase over February’s numbers and a 7 percent gain occurred compared to March 2013.
Black Knight reported that home prices are within 12.8 percent of their peak reached in June 2006.
Of the top 20 largest states listed in the report, Michigan registered a 1.6 percent housing increase from February to lead March’s monthly numbers.
Compared to March 2013, however, California showed a dominant 12.4 percent increase despite its modest 0.9 percent month-over-month gain.
Only Connecticut revealed a negative month-over-month decline: 0.1 percent. But it still held a 0.4 percent gain compared to the year previous.
By far, the largest Black Knight-reported city gain occurred in San Jose, Calif. Compared to February, the city saw a 2.2 percent housing price gain.
Three cities in Connecticut — Hartford, Norwich and New Haven — registered the only decreases from February.
