House prices rose in February by 0.7% from the prior month, according to a house price index based on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase mortgage transactions.
In a normal market, house prices generally decline during the winter months. However, low inventories and pent-up demand are pushing house prices higher.
The seasonally adjusted HPI published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Tuesday morning shows that prices are up 7.1% from February 2012.
The GSE regulator divides the U.S. into nine regions and only the mid-Atlantic region posted a month-over-month decline (0.6%) in February.
On a year-over-year basis, all nine regions showed gains in house prices. Even prices in the mid-Atlantic are up 1.9% from February 2012.
The last month-over-month decline in the
