Home price increases appear to have accelerated in most of the country in July as compared to June according to data released on Thursday by the Federal Home Finance Agency (FHFA).  FHFA's House Price Index was up 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from June and the previously reported June gain of 0.2 percent was upgraded to 0.3 percent.

All of the nine census divisions covered by the HPI had positive monthly changes with six having larger increases in July than in June.  Two, the Pacific and the East South Central divisions moved from negative to positive with significant shifts.  In the latter the change, from -0.3 to +1.0 gave that division the greatest monthly gain among the nine and in the case of the Pacific region the 0.6 percent appreciation represented a 0.9 percentage point gain.  Changes slowed in only one division; the South Atlantic went from an 0.7 percent increase in June to 0.3 percent in the most recent release. The smallest monthly increase was in the Middle Atlantic at 0.2 percent.  

The year-over-year national price gain was 5.8 percent compared to 5.7 percent in June.  The June estimate was revised up from the 5.6 percent originally reported.  On a divisional basis the increases, all of which were positive, ranged from 2.6 percent in the Middle Atlantic to 7.7 percent in the Pacific

The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.