U.S. House Prices Increase In April

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the economy, house prices in the United States increased 0.2 percent in April, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Prices also rose 5.5 percent from April 2019 to April 2020, FHFA’s House Price Index showed.

“U.S. house prices posted another positive monthly increase in April. … We expect the normal spring bump in sales was pushed off by the COVID-19 shutdowns and may extend into the summer months as states reopen and real estate sales pick back up,” said Dr. Lynn Fisher, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics at FHFA. 

For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly house price changes from March to April ranged from -0.5 percent in the South Atlantic division to +0.8 percent in the West South Central division. The 12-month changes were all positive, ranging from 5 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to 6.8 percent in the Mountain division.