Data released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) indicates that house prices rose by 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis over the month of February 2014. In addition, previous estimates of house price gains in January, 0.5%, and in December, 0.7%, were marked down slightly; to 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. February marks the 3^rd consecutive monthly increase and the 24^th increase in the past 25 months for FHFA’s House Price Index – Purchase Only. Over this 25-month period, the House Price Index – Purchase Only has risen by 15.0% and is now at roughly the same level as in June 2005.

National house price appreciation is taking place because most areas of the country are experiencing house price increases. However, many regions of the country recorded monthly house price changes, up or down, that deviated significantly from the 0.6% national average. As the figure below illustrates, house…