State PR E S ENTS ofAffairs TOP NEWS
This year's second quarter saw the largest quarterly growth in home prices in nearly seven years, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The agency's purchase-only home price index (HPI), which measures price changes of homes backing mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, showed house prices rose 1.8 percent from the first quarter to the second—the largest three-month increase recorded since the fourth quarter of 2005. Compared with the same time last year, FHFA's index was up 3 percent in Q2. The Arizona metropolitan statistical area that includes Phoenix, Mesa, and Glendale posted the biggest annual increase by FHFA's measure. There, home prices were up 5.98 percent in the second quarter. Boise City- Nampa, Idaho, wasn't too far behind with an annual gain of 5.88 percent. Two other metros saw annual appreciation above the 5 percent mark: Columbus, Indiana, at 5.05 percent and Bismarck, North Dakota, at 5.02 percent. FHFA's principal economist, Andrew Leventis, says the strong appreciation partially reflects fewer homes sold in distress. A data sample of 12 metro areas across the country showed the share of distressed sales fell to 29.1 percent, a sharp drop from the first quarter's 38.3 percent share.
Note: The state-by-state trends are based on a compilation of July 2012 real estate public records data and proprietary mortgage loan performance transactions provided by Lender Processing Services, Inc. as well as a preliminary
unemployment rate for July 2012 based upon public information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) is a provider of mortgage and consumer loan processing
services, mortgage settlement services, default solutions, and loan performance analytics, as well as solutions for the real estate industry, capital markets investors, and government offices. Formed from a 2008 spin-off, LPS' predecessor companies date back nearly half a century to the early beginnings of computing and
statistical services. LPS' high-performance technology, robust data, innovative services, and award-winning customer support are why most of the nation's top 50 banks have chosen LPS to provide the solutions they need in today's competitive marketplace. To learn more about LPS visit lpsvcs.com.
