This marks the 34-consecutive quarter of home price gains
U.S. house prices increased 5.1% in the fourth quarter from a year ago, matching the pace of the prior quarter, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
It was the first time in two years the FHFA’s House Price Index didn’t show a slowdown in home-price gains, said Lynn Fisher, the FHFA’s deputy director for research and statistics.
“Falling interest rates and steady job growth renewed housing demand in 2019 and may have arrested the recent deceleration in home prices that began in 2018,” Fisher said in a statement.
The FHFA index is calculated using sales price information for single-family homes using mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Because of this, it excludes cash transactions and sales of high-end homes bought with jumbo loans.
