Inventories Driving Prices; Fannie's Blackstone Blowback; Rates at 2-Week Lows; What Happened to Black Homeownership?

Home prices, as measured by the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) Housing Price Index (HPI), rose even faster on an annual basis in December than they had earlier in the fall. The year-over-year gain was 6.2 percent, up from 6.1 percent in the 12 months ended in November, and 6.0 percent in October. FHFA's HPI report, which this month also in included fourth quarter data, is based on purchase prices of homes with mortgages backed by or sold to one of the two GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On a quarterly basis, the HPI was up 1.5 percent compared to the third quarter. The monthly change from November to December was 0.4 percent, down from a 0.5 percent gain from October to November. "Although interest rates rose sharply during the fourth quarter, our data show no signs of a home price

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/2/23/2657