FHFA Reports House Prices Fell for the Year

This story appeared in Bank Digest.

U.S. house prices fell slightly in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the FHFA's 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 0.1 percent lower on a seasonally adjusted basis in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter of 2009. Over the year ending with the fourth quarter of 2009, seasonally adjusted prices fell 1.2 percent. However, the decline in prices in the fourth quarter was much more significant when measured without seasonal adjustment, the FHFA said.