National home prices were little changed on a month-over-month basis, though the Empire State fared well. The Northwest had the strongest year-over-year gains.
As of January 2017, the Federal Housing Finance Agency U.S. House Price Index was calculated to be 242.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
While the index was mostly the same as it was during the final month of last year, it has moved higher by 5.7 percent compared to the first month of last year.
FHFA, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, calculates the index based on purchase-money mortgages acquired or guaranteed by the two companies.
In the Mountain region, home prices between January 2016 and January 2017 were up 8.3 percent — more than any other region in FHFA’s report.
The smallest year-over-year gain was in the East South Central and New England regions: 3.5 percent.
At 192.81 in January of this year,
the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Composite-20 Index inched up 0.2 percent from a month earlier and climbed 5.7 percent from a year earlier. The index now stands at 44 percent above the March 2012 low but is still 7 percent shy of its July 2006 peak.
A more than 11 percent gain from January 2016 in Seattle was the largest year-over-year increase of any of the 20-biggest metropolitan statistical areas in the Case-Shiller report. Close behind was Portland, Oregon’s, 9.7 percent, then Denver’s 9.2 percent, Dallas’ 8.2 percent and 8.1 percent in Tampa, Florida.
In the U.S. Home Price Insights Report, CoreLogic Inc.’s
HPI for the first month of this year increased 0.7 percent from December 2016 and 6.9 percent from January 2016.
CoreLogic predicts that its HPI will increase just another 4.8 percent by January 2018.
Home prices in Washington have risen 10.8 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to CoreLogic, more than any other state. The increase included distressed sales. Oregon’s 10.3 percent was next, then 9.1 percent in both Colorado and South Dakota and 9.0 percent in Idaho.
In Maine, CoreLogic reported that prices dropped 1.8 percent from January 2016, the worst year-over-year performance.
Black Knight Financial Services said that its HPI report indicated that the average U.S. home price was $266,000 in January. That was an increase of just 0.1 percent from the prior month but a 5.4 percent gain from a year prior.
Although Black Knight’s HPI still sits 0.3 percent under the June 2006 peak, it is 33.5 percent higher than the January 2012 trough.
Compared to December 2016, home prices in New York jumped 1.3 percent, more than any other state. Hawaii, New Jersey and Washington followed at 0.6 percent, then 0.5 percent in Maine, Nevada and Kansas.
With an 0.8 percent decline, Alabama had the worst month-over-month performance in Black Knight’s report.
