The pace of home price increases, at least for purchases financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, slowed in April, falling below even the most modest of analysts' projections.  The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reports that prices rose 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous month.  In March the increase was 0.8 percent, revised upward today from an originally reported 0.7 percent.

Analysts survey by Econoday had anticipated a month-over-month increase for April of 0.6 percent.  The range of estimates was 0.5 to 0.8.

On an annual basis the index appreciated 5.9 percent, down from an annual gain of 6.1 percent in March. Since October 2015, the national house price index level has surpassed the prior peak level from March 2007.

For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from March 2016 to April 2016 ranged from -0.7 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +1.4 percent in the New England division.  The 12-month changes were all positive, ranging from +1.7 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +8.6 percent in the Pacific division.

FHFA's HPI is calculated using home sale price information from mortgages sold to or guaranteed by the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs).  The index was benchmarked to 100 in January 1991 and currently stands at 238.8 for the U.S. as a whole.