Federal Housing Finance Agency Print
Home / Media / House Prices Fall in the First Quarter (2010)
News Release

House Prices Fall in the First Quarter (2010)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
5/25/2010

Washington, D.C. – U.S. house prices fell in the first quarter of 2010 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) seasonally adjusted, purchase-only House Price Index (HPI). The HPI, calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages, was 1.9 percent lower on a seasonally adjusted basis in the first quarter 2010 than in the fourth quarter of 2009. The unadjusted national decline was 2.2 percent. Over the past year, seasonally adjusted prices fell 3.1 percent from the first quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010.

FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for March was up 0.3 percent from its February value, offsetting some of the price decreases in the prior months. The monthly change for the January to February period was revised downward to -0.4 percent, from an initial estimate of -0.2 percent.

While the national, purchase-only house price index fell 3.1 percent from the first quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010, prices of other goods and services rose 3.5 percent. Accordingly, the inflation-adjusted price of homes fell approximately 6.3 percent over the latest year.

FHFA’s all-transactions house price index, which includes data from mortgages used for both home purchases and refinancings, fell over the latest quarter. The index declined 1.6 percent in the latest quarter and 6.8 percent over the four-quarter period.

Significant Findings:

  • Of the nine Census Divisions, the South Atlantic and Middle Atlantic experienced the most divergent price movements in the latest quarter. While prices fell 3.1 percent in the South Atlantic according to the seasonally adjusted, purchase-only index, prices fell only 0.3 percent in the Middle Atlantic.

  • Seasonally adjusted, purchase-only indexes indicate that prices rose in the latest quarter in four states and Washington, D.C. Prices rose over the latest four quarters in eight states and Washington, D.C.

  • As measured with purchase-only indexes for the 25 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., four-quarter price declines were greatest in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL area. That area saw price declines of 8.9 percent between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010. Prices held up best in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV area, where prices rose 11.7 percent over that period.

The complete list of state appreciation rates are on pages 16 and 17. The complete list of metropolitan area appreciation rates computed in a purchase-only series are on page 28 and all-transactions indexes are on pages 31–46.

Highlights

This quarter’s Highlights article describes a special repeat-transactions price index that has been constructed for Puerto Rico. The index is calculated using data not only from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but also from the Federal Housing Administration and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York.

Background

FHFA’s purchase-only and all-transactions HPI track average house price changes in repeat sales or refinancings of the same single-family properties. The purchase-only index is based on more than 5 million repeat sales transactions, while the all-transactions index includes more than 40 million repeat transactions. Both indexes are based on data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for mortgages originated over the past 35 years.

FHFA analyzes the combined mortgage records of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which form the nation’s largest database of conventional, conforming mortgage transactions. The conforming loan limit for mortgages purchased since the beginning of 2006 has been $417,000. Loan limits for mortgages originated in the latter half of 2007 through Dec. 31, 2008 were raised to as much as $729,750 in high-cost areas in the continental United States. Legislation generally extended those limits for 2009-originated mortgages. A Congressional Continuing Resolution (PL111-88) further extended those limits for 2010 originations in places where the limits were higher than those that would have been calculated under pre-existing rules.

This HPI report contains tables showing: 1) House price appreciation for the 50 states and Washington, D.C.; 2) House price appreciation by Census Division and for the U.S. as a whole; 3) A ranking of 301 MSAs and Metropolitan Divisions by house price appreciation; and 4) A list of one-year and five-year house price appreciation rates for MSAs not ranked.

  • Please e-mail FHFAinfo@fhfa.gov for a printed copy of the report.

  • The next quarterly HPI report, which will include data for the second quarter of 2010, will be released Aug. 25, 2010.

  • The next monthly index, which will include data through April 2010, will be released June 22, 2010.

Click here to view the Report

Attachments:

###

The Federal Housing Finance Agency regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. These government-sponsored enterprises provide more than $6.3 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions.

Contacts:
Corinne Russell (202) 649-3032 / Stefanie Johnson (202) 649-3030
© 2024 Federal Housing Finance Agency