国际英语新闻:U.S. house prices rise for 12th consecutive quarter with lower rate

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. house prices remained on an upward track in the second quarter of 2014 while the momentum has slowed down, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Tuesday.

U.S. house prices increased 0.8 percent in the second quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous quarter, the 12th consecutive quarterly price increase, lower than the rise of 1.3 percent in the first quarter, according to the FHFA's House Price Index.

"The extraordinary price appreciation observed over the last few spring seasons was not evident in the second quarter of this year," said FHFA principal economist Andrew Leventis in a statement.

The house price appreciation in the quarter was near or below the baseline rate of inflation in most states, according to the FHFA's data.

"However, house price appreciation for the nation as a whole remained positive," Leventis said.

Compared with last year, house prices rose 5.2 percent from the second quarter of 2013. The FHFA's seasonally adjusted monthly index for June was up 0.4 percent from May, the seventh consecutive monthly increase.

Of the nine census divisions, the Pacific division, including Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California, witnessed the strongest price increase, up 1.3 percent compared with last quarter and 9.8 percent on an annual basis.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index, an index for 20 U.S. major cities home prices released on the same day also showed an upward trend with lower speed, increasing 8.1 percent in June compared with the same period last year, below the increase of 9.3 percent in May.

The FHFA measured changes in real estate values using purchases of properties with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. It did not provide a specific price for houses.