American home prices rose 1.3 percent from last quarter and 5.1 percent year-over-year in December, according to the latest data released Tuesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
Home prices are also up 0.6 percent from the previous month. This marks the 34th quarter that they have been rising. While prices rose in all 50 states, Idaho, Utah and Arizona saw the biggest gains — at 12 percent, 8.1 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
FHFA
“Growth in U.S. home prices stabilized at the end of 2019 with fourth quarter prices increasing 5.1 percent from the same period a year ago,” Dr. Lynn Fisher, deputy director of the division of research and statistics at FHFA, said in a prepared statement. “The revised measure of home price growth in the third quarter was also 5.1 percent. Prices in the Mountain region had the highest gains, posting a 6.7 annual growth rate in the fourth quarter.”
Regionally, the Mountain Division saw the biggest home price gains at 6.71 percent. The South Atlantic and East South Central regions followed close behind at 5.86 and 5.52 percent.
The FHFA home price index measures changes in single-family home prices, using a weighted, repeat-sales statistical technique to analyze transaction data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.