FHFA House Price Index Up 1.3 Percent in the Third Quarter

U.S. house prices rose 1.3 percent in the third quarter of 2015 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI). This is the 17th consecutive quarterly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for September was up 0.8 percent from August. House prices rose 5.7 percent from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015.

The FHFA HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

​Home prices rose in every state (except for West Virginia) and in th​e District of Columbia between the third quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2015. Of the nine census divisions, the Mountain division experienced the strongest increase in the third quarter, posting a 2.4 percent quarterly increase and a 9.0 percent increase since the third quarter of last year. House price appreciation was weakest in the New England division, where prices rose 0.2 percent from the last quarter.