Home prices in the U.S. increased 0.5% in October, FHFA says

BOSTON – U.S. home prices rose in October as the improving job market stirred competition for a dwindling inventory of listings.

Prices increased 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from September, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday in a report from Washington. That matched the median estimate of 16 economists, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gain was 6.1 percent from a year earlier.

“People are going back into the marketplace and they’re not finding exactly what they want,” said Joel Naroff, a Holland, Penn.-based economic consultant and former chief economist for TD Bank. “The lack of supply is actually restraining sales but for the desirable homes, it’s driving up the prices.”

Sales of previously owned homes fell in October from the second-highest level since 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors. The number of listings was down 4.5 percent from a year earlier.

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The gauge measures transactions for single-family properties financed with mortgages owned or securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It doesn’t provide specific prices. The median price of an existing single-family home was $221,200 in October, according to the Realtors group.

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