FHFA home prices down 1.6% in February

Home prices declined 1.6% in February from the month before, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency index. The FHFA monitors the price of homes purchased with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages. The agency revised its numbers in January as well. Instead of a 0.3% drop that month, the FHFA said the decrease was a full 1%. Over the last 12 months, home prices fell 5.7% ending in February, and it remains 18.6% below the peak in April 2007. Home prices have fallen to essentially the same level as February 2004. Prices fell the most in the mountain census division, east of California and west of Texas, dropping 3.7% in February. Prices declined 0.6% in the east south central division in February, which covers Kentucky south to Mississippi and Alabama, the smallest drop that month. Write to Jon Prior. Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior.