Significant Findings:
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The seasonally adjusted purchase-only HPI rose in the third quarter in 39 states and the District of Columbia.
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Of the nine census divisions, the Mountain division experienced the strongest increase in the latest quarter, posting a 3.0 percent price increase. House prices were weakest in the East South Central division, where prices fell 0.2 percent over the quarter.
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As measured with purchase-only indexes for the 25 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., third quarter price increases were greatest in the Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). That area saw prices increase by 7.2 percent between the second and third quarters. Prices were weakest in the Edison-New Brunswick, NJ metropolitan division, where prices fell 2.2 percent over that period.
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The monthly seasonally adjusted purchase-only index for the United States has increased for 8 consecutive months.
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FHFA’s new “distress-free sales” house price index suggests that price gains in the latest quarter may be partially attributable to decreases in the share of distressed sales in the latest quarter. For 11 of the 12 metropolitan areas covered by the new set of indexes, the distress-free measures—which remove the effect of distressed sales—showed more modest price gains than were evident in the traditional purchase-only indexes.