RISMEDIA

March 26, 2010

U.S. house prices fell 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis from December 2009 to January 2010, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index. The previously reported 1.6% decline in December was revised downward to a 2.0% decline. For the 12 months ending in January, U.S. prices fell 3.3%. The U.S. index is 13.2% below its April 2007 peak.

The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. For the nine Census Divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from December to January ranged from –1.8% in the East North Central Division to +2.0% in the Mountain Division.