U.S. house prices rose 1.4 percent in the third quarter of 2017 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI). House prices rose 6.5 percent from the third quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2017. FHFA's seasonally adjusted monthly index for September was up 0.3 percent from August.
The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA has produced a video of highlights for this quarter.
"With relatively favorable economic conditions and a continued shortage of housing supply, price increases in the third quarter were generally robust and widespread," said Andrew Leventis, Deputy Chief Economist. "At some point, declining housing affordability should temper appreciation rates in some of the nation's fastest appreciating markets, but our third quarter results show few signs of that."