WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. home prices rose 0.5 percent in October from September, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday.
The agency that keeps track of prices of homes with mortgages backed by either the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. -- better known as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae -- said prices rose for the 21st consecutive month in the seasonally adjusted purchase-only index.
Home prices tracked by the agency were up 8.2 percent from October 2012. The agency's Home Price Index, however, remains 8.8 percent below its April 2007 peak.
Prices in October were "roughly the same as the April 2005 index level," the agency said.
In the month-to-month index, the biggest drop was in the East South Central division (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky) where prices were off 1 percent. The biggest gain was in the Mountain division (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico) with prices up 1.2 percent.
Over 12 months, the smallest gain, 4.7 percent, was in the East South Central division, while the largest gain was 17.5 percent in the Pacific division (comprised of Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska and Hawaii).
