According to the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency's"":http://www.fhfa.gov/ (FHFA) recently-released ""monthly House Price Index"":http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/15564/MonthlyHPI32310.pdf, U.S. house prices fell 0.6 percent from December 2009 to January 2010. And for the12 months ending in January, prices fell 3.3 percent.
[IMAGE] [COLUMN_BREAK]The January 2010 index was 13.2 percent below its April 2007 peak and was roughly the same as the October 2004 index value, the FHFA said in its report.
For the nine census divisions, seasonally-adjusted monthly price changes ranged from a 1.8 percent decline in the East North Central Division to a 2 percent jump in the Mountain Division. The Pacific Division was the only division that showed no percentage change in its index.
The 12-month change was also varied. The largest increase was seen in the Pacific Division, where the index jumped 1.6 percent from January 2009 to January 2010. The most notable decrease in the index was in the South Atlantic, where prices plummeted 7.5 percent over the 12-month period.
The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.