The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 0.6% during February following January's 0.9% advance, revised from 0.8%. The 7.2% y/y rate of increase was nearly the quickest since 2013, up from 5.2% in 2014. Over the past three months, prices have risen at an 8.0% annual rate, up from 4.4% as of July.

Around the country, prices in the Pacific (10.3%) and Mountain (9.0% y/y) regions showed the strongest rates of growth.

Slightly slower growth rates were exhibited within the South Atlantic (7.5% y/y), East North Central (6.8% y/y) and West South Central (6.4% y/y) regions of the country.

Home price appreciation in the East South Central, New England and West North Central Regions approximated 6.0% y/y, with prices in the Middle Atlantic region up a lesser 4.8% y/y.

The FHFA house price index is a weighted purchase-only index that measures average price changes in repeat sales of the same property. An associated quarterly index also includes refinancings on the same kinds of properties. The indexes are based on transactions involving conforming, conventional mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Only mortgage transactions on single-family properties are included. The FHFA data are available in Haver's USECON database.