Real Estate

Home Prices Rise For Second Straight Quarter: Freddie Mac

CNBC.com
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Freddie Mac said Tuesday that its Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI) registered a 0.9 percent quarterly gain during the third quarter 2009 for the U.S. That follows an upward revised 2.0 percent pickup in the second quarter and marking the second consecutive quarter of price increase.

The increases of the past two quarters erased about two-fifths of the declines registered during the final quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009; over the year ending with the third quarter of 2009, U.S. home sales prices were down 3.9 percent in the CMHPI Purchase-Only Series.

"The home-price gains of the past two quarters reflect improving existing home sales over that period. Sales volume was up 15 percent between the first and third quarters of this year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

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