Our Real Estate Blog

Home prices are back to last summer's levels, according to the latest reading from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, another sign that the real estate market is going nowhere fast despite record low rate.

FHFA's home price index, based on mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, fell 0.2% from September to a reading of 183 in October. The FHFA index was at 183 in June and July.

For the 12 months ending in October, U.S. house prices are down 2.8%, FHFA said.

Two-thirds of Fannie and Freddie's loan guarantee business is refinancings, which generally serve high quality homebuyers.

The average homebuyer that takes out a Fannie guaranteed loan has a 759 credit score and brings a 30% downpayment to the settlement table.

A broader HPI by CoreLogic shows that values are down 3.9% from a year ago.