Washington, D.C. – U.S. house price appreciation continued in August 2013, with prices rising 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly House Price Index (HPI). The August HPI change marks the nineteenth consecutive monthly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index. The previously reported 1.0 percent increase in July was revised downward to a 0.8 percent increase.
The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages either sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. From August 2012 to August 2013, house prices were up 8.5 percent. The U.S. index is 9.4 percent below its April 2007 peak and is roughly the same as the April 2005 index level.
For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from July to August ranged from -0.5 percent in the South Atlantic division to +1.3 percent in the Mountain division, while the 12-month changes ranged from +4.0 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +18.2 percent in the Pacific division.
Monthly index values and appreciation rate estimates for recent periods are provided in the table and graphs on the following pages. For complete historical data, visit the HPI Datasets page.
For detailed information on the monthly HPI, see HPI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). The next HPI release will be Nov. 26, 2013 and will include monthly data for September 2013 and quarterly data for the third quarter of 2013. Release dates for 2013 and 2014 are available on the House Price Index page.
Corinne Russell (202) 649-3032 / Stefanie Johnson (202) 649-3030