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U.S. house prices on rise for 14 consecutive quarters

Xinhua, February 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. house prices increased 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 on a quarterly basis, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said Thursday.

This was the fourteenth consecutive quarterly price increase, while house prices increased 4.9 percent compared with the same quarter in 2013, said FHFA.

"Contrary to prior indications of a possible slowdown, home price appreciation in the fourth quarter was relatively strong," said FHFA principal economist Andrew Leventis.

He cited "low inventories of homes available for sale and improvement in the labor market" as two key drivers of house price increase over the past few years.

Of the nine census divisions, the New England division suffered price decline compared with the third quarter of 2014, while on an annual basis, all the divisions witnessed growth from 2.2 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to 7.38 percent in the Pacific division.

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