FHFA Index Shows Home Price Gains in July

Homes with mortgages owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac showed monthly and yearly price increases in July, according to the ""FHFA"":http://www.fhfa.gov monthly House Price Index (HPI) released Tuesday.

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In July, prices rose 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from June and rose 3.7 percent from July 2011.

The index currently sits 16.4 below its April 2007 peak.

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The S&P/Case-Shiller indices, which were released the same day, ""showed monthly price gains"":http://dsnews.comarticles/case-shiller-indexes-to-20-month-high-2012-09-25 in July, with the 20-city index up 1.6 percent from June and the 10-city index up 1.5 percent. Year-over-year, the 10-city index was up 0.6 percent and the 20-city index rose 1.2 percent.

In the nine areas covered by FHFA's index, price changes varied, with the East South Central (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama) and Middle Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) divisions seeing a decrease of 0.8 and 0.7 percent, respectively, while the Mountain division (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) increased 1.3 percent.

The West North Central (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri) and West South Central (Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana) divisions saw the next biggest monthly gains, 1.0 and 0.7 percent, respectively.

On a yearly basis, the Mountain division led with an increase of 11.9 percent, followed by West South Central (4.9 percent) and South Atlantic (4.9 percent).

On the other hand, the Middle Atlantic division was down 1.4 percent.