House prices in the United States rose for the 34^th consecutive quarter, according to 2019 fourth quarter data released Tuesday by the Federal Housing Finance Authority.

“US house prices have risen continuously since 2011,” said Lynn Fisher, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics at FHFA. “Falling interest rates and steady job growth renewed housing demand in 2019 and may have arrested the resent deceleration in home prices that began in 2018.”

House prices were up 1.3 percent for the quarter and 5.1 percent over the fourth quarter of 2018. The FHFA analysis also found:

U.S. house prices have increased every quarter since September 2011.
House prices rose in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between the fourth quarters of 2018 and 2019.
The top five areas in annual appreciation were: Idaho 12.0 percent; Utah 8.1 percent; Arizona 7.0 percent; Washington 7.0 percent; and Indiana 7.0 percent.
The areas showing the smallest increase were Connecticut 1.9 percent; Illinois 2.0 percent; Iowa 2.1 percent; Mississippi 2.8 percent; and Louisiana 3.0 percent.
House prices rose in 97 of the top 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. over the last four quarters. Annual price increases were greatest in Boise City, Idaho, where prices increased by 12.7 percent. Prices were weakest in Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York, where they fell by -1.8 percent.
The biggest increasing was seen in the Mountain division, which gained 6.7 percent between the fourth quarters of 2018 and 2019 and a 1.4 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The weakest? New England, where prices increased 3.9 percent over the year.

Watch Fisher discuss the latest numbers here:

Also Tuesday, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 3.8 percent annual gain in December, up from 3.5 percent in the previous month.

The group’s 20-City Composite posted a 2.9 percent year-over-year gain, up from 2.5 percent in the previous month. In December, Phoenix had the biggest growth with a 6.5 percent increase for the year, followed by Charlotte (5.3 percent) and Tampa (5.2 percent).

“The U.S. housing market continued its trend of stable growth in December,” said Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “December’s results bring the National Composite Index to a 3.8% increase for calendar 2019.”