WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- A federal agency said Thursday U.S. home prices fell 1.6 percent January to February and revised the previous month's drop to reflect steeper declines.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency revised its previous report to reflect a drop of 1 percent December to January, a sharper decline than the 0.3 percent reported a month ago.
The FHFA report tracks prices for homes with mortgages backed by either the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.
The report said prices of U.S. homes fell 5.7 percent over the 12 months ending in February. The U.S. home price index is 18.6 percent below its peak in April 2007.
Home prices fell in all nine census divisions in the latest monthly survey, dropping furthest in the Mountain Division -- 3.7 percent. The East South Central Division saw prices drop 0.6 percent, the smallest decline among the nine divisions.
