U.S. house prices fell 0.8% month-over-month in April following March's revised 0.6% decline, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) reported Tuesday.
The consensus had been looking for a 0.4% month-over-month pullback in April.
Leading the decline was a 2.0% month-over-month fall in the Pacific region, followed by a 1.6% pullback in the Middle Atlantic and 1.3% decline in the New England regions. The East North central region declined 1.2% and the Mountain region fell 1.1%. The South Atlantic declined 0.5% and West North Central decreased 0.4%.
Prices in the West South Central region increased by 0.4% and were up 0.9% in the East South Central region.
"Due to the broader geographic reach and narrower range of financing types than other house price indexes, the HPI's fall has been comparatively muted," said OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart. "However, on a 12-month basis, there have been large geographic differences, from -15.0 percent in the Pacific to small increases in the West South Central (1.9 percent) and East South Central (0.1 percent). House prices on a nationwide basis have retreated to their December 2005 levels."
By Erik Kevin Franco and edited by Stephen Huebl