Government: First house price increase since 2007

WASHINGTON – May 23, 2012

U.S. house prices rose 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2012 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) seasonally adjusted purchase-only house price index (HPI).

HPI price changes are generally smaller than other indicators because they’re based on same-home selling prices for homes under government-owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The purchase-only index is based on more than 6 million repeat sales transactions.

Comparing year-to-year, the seasonally adjusted house prices rose 0.5 percent compared to first quarter 2011.

Comparing month-to-month, FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for March was up 1.8 percent from February.

“Consistent with other housing market indicators, the FHFA HPI showed stronger house prices in the first quarter, most notably in March,” says FHFA Principal Economist Andrew Leventis. “Increased affordability and a somewhat smaller inventory of homes for sale are positively impacting house prices.”

Findings:

• The seasonally adjusted purchase-only HPI rose in the first quarter in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

• The top five annual increases were Hawaii (10.3 percent), Washington, DC (9.8 percent), Iowa (5.7 percent), Florida (4.7 percent) and North Dakota (4.4 percent).

• Of the nine census divisions, the Mountain division experienced the strongest prices in the latest quarter, posting a 1.4 percent increase. Prices were weakest in the New England division, where prices fell -0.7 percent.

© 2012 Florida Realtors®

New-home inventories shrinking | Inman News

Sales still slow, but up nearly 10 percent from a year ago

By Inman News, Wednesday, May 23, 2012.

Inman News®

Sales of new homes remain anemic by historic measures, but homebuilders have cut back so drastically on construction that new-home inventories are no longer bloated.

New single-family homes were selling at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000 homes per year during April, up 3.3 percent from March and 9.9 percent from a year ago, the Census Bureau reported.

That represents a supply of 5.1 months at the current rate of sales, down from 5.2 months in March and an all-time high of 12.1 months in January 2009. Many analysts consider a six-month supply of homes an even balance of supply and demand.

Sales of new single-family homes exceeded 1 million per year from 2003 through 2006, dipping below 500,000 in 2008 for the first time since 1982. The 306,000 new homes sold last year was an all-time low in records dating back to 1963.