By IANS,
Washington : The US house prices continued its moderate growth in August on a seasonally adjusted basis amid record low mortgage rates, the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported.
The house prices in August were 0.7 percent higher than a month earlier, according to the FHFA’s monthly House Price Index.
Over the 12 months ending in August, the house prices gained 4.7 percent, signaling the housing market is steadily on the way to recovery, reported Xinhua.
However, the price variation across the country was ragged. For the nine census divisions, the Pacific division including Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California saw a 3.0-percent increase in the house prices from July to August, more than any other region, but the prices in the East South Central division including Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama fell the most by 0.5 percent.
The report measured changes in real estate values using purchases of properties with mortgages back by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. It did not provide a specific price for houses. As measured by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the US median existing-home price for all housing types was $183,900 in September, up 11.3 percent from a year ago.
The lowest mortgage rates on record helped boost home refinancing and purchasing, as the Federal Reserve’s new bond purchase plan brought down fixed mortgage rates back to near all-time lows.