U.S. home prices rose 1.2% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter and were up 5.4% compared to the second quarter of 2014, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) home price index (HPI).
It was the 16th consecutive quarterly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index.
On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased 0.2% in June compared to May.
The FHFA's HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Â
‘Home price growth in the second quarter once again far exceeded the pace of overall inflation, even as mortgage rates drifted upwards,’ says Andrew Leventis, principal economist for the FHFA, in a statement. ‘Although too early to tell whether it's a sign of a slowdown, the monthly appreciation rate in June was more modest than we have seen in a while.’
States that saw home prices increase the most, year over year, in the second quarter included Colorado (10.6%), Nevada (10.5%), Florida (9.7%), Hawaii (9.5%) and Washington (8.8%).
The metropolitan area that saw home prices increase the most, year over year, in the second quarter was the San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco area, at 18.3%.
Prices were weakest in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J. area, where they fell 1.1%.
Of the nine census divisions, the South Atlantic division experienced the strongest increase in the second quarter – up 1.7% compared to the first quarter and up 6.1% compared to the second quarter of last year. Home price appreciation was weakest in the Middle Atlantic division, where prices were flat in the second quarter.