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According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (HPI), for the year beginning January, 2013 to January 2014, the HPI increased by 7.4 percent. Prices have increased for 23 of the last 24 months. Month-over-month, the HPI increased by 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. The index is slightly less than the S&P Case-Shiller index, which reported that home prices increased by 0.8 percent month-to-month.
For the 9 census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from December 2013 to January 2014 ranged from minus 0.3 percent in the West South Central division to plus 1.3 percent in the Middle Atlantic division, according to the FHFA's report. On a yearly basis, each region showed positive gains in house prices. The Pacific Region, comprised of Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California, posted an impressive 14 percent increase in year-over-year home prices. January's HPI is 8 percent below the April 2007 peak, which is roughly the same as the May 2005 index level.
Speaking at the fifth annual Five Star Government Forum on Tuesday, Christopher Whalen gave a presentation about the effects of government regulations on the housing industry. The presentation commented that government agencies quote-illustrate excessive regulation in the coercive post-Dodd Frank environment, and pose continued operational problems at big banks." Whalen concluded that the U.S. housing sector is not repaired, but rather, the increase in home prices is largely a function of a limited supply and high demand, pushing prices higher.
