Home prices crawled forward in April, rising only 0.4% from the previous month but up 5.2% from 2018, according to the latest monthly House Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Because of this, the selection excludes high-end homes bought with jumbo loans or cash sales.
The report explains that across the nine census divisions, the Mountain Division saw the strongest appreciation growth, rising 1.2% in April. Unfortunately, the West North Central Division experienced no growth, as appreciation declined 0.6%.
However, the report highlights that the 12-month changes were all positive, with the Middle Atlantic Division posting the smallest gain of 4%, and the Mountain Division leading the way with a 7.8% increase.
These are the states located in each division mentioned:
Mountain: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
West North Central: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama
Middle Atlantic: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
The chart below compares 12-month price changes to the prior year:
