Home prices rise for third straight month

09.24.09
By Timothy Jones

Although the country's unemployment rate remains high and Americans are struggling with credit card debt, there are some positive economic figures coming out over the past few months including word that home prices have risen for the third month in a row.

That's the news from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) which reports that the U.S. home price index rose 0.3 percent in July - the third straight month of increased home prices after the seasonally adjusted June increase of 0.1 percent and May's increase of 0.6 percent.

But the three-month increase is not enough to put a large dent in the decline of housing prices during the ongoing economic downturn. According to the FHFA, for the 12-month period ending in July, home prices had fallen 4.2 percent.

The drop in home prices since the start of the recession means the FHFA Monthly House Price Index has fallen to March 2005 levels.

July's home price increase was most pronounced in the Pacific region of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington where the index rose 1.6 percent. This follows gains of 0.7 in June and 1.6 in May for the region.

Conversely, the largest decline came in the East South Central region of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee which saw the index fall almost one full point in July. This region's decline comes after gains of 2.3 percent and 0.3 percent in June and May respectively.

Only the West South Central states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas has seen the index increase over the last year with a 0.1 percent gain over the last 12 months. The Mountain region - Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming - saw the biggest decline over that time with a 9.8 percent fall.

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Home prices have risen for 3 straight months