U.S. home prices fell 0.3% from April to May, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said Tuesday.
Additionally, the government agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said home prices fell 4.8% for the 12 months that ended in May.
OFHEO's monthly index is based on the purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been purchased or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie.
The regulator said prices in the South Atlantic region — which includes Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida — fell 1.2% from April to May.
But prices in the Pacific region — which includes Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California — rose 0.3%, the region's first price jump since March 2007. "It is very hard to draw conclusions from a one-month number, especially in these uncertain times; but the numbers in the Pacific, East, and West North Central … may be good signs," OFHEO's director, James B. Lockhart, said in a press release.
