The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. house prices rose 0.3 percent in July and 2.6 percent from a year earlier, but the national figures conceal a wide spread across the nine census divisions. The Middle Atlantic division led with a 1.5 percent monthly and 6.3 percent annual gain, while the Mountain division fell 0.8 percent on the month and managed only 0.6 percent over the year. That is a gap of 2.3 percentage points on the month and 5.7 points on the year between the strongest and weakest regions.
The regulator, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, published the figures on September 29, 2026, covering July data. The index is seasonally adjusted and built on purchase-only data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a design that shapes what the numbers can and cannot say about household wealth in any one region.
A 2.3-point monthly gap and a 5.7-point annual gap
The gaps are arithmetic on the ends of the range FHFA reports. Monthly changes in the FHFA release ran from minus 0.8 percent in the Mountain division to plus 1.5 percent in the Middle Atlantic. Annual changes ran from plus 0.6 percent to plus 6.3 percent. Against a national annual rise of 2.6 percent, Middle Atlantic prices gained more than twice the national rate and Mountain prices gained about a quarter of it.
The release reports the extremes of the range. The seven divisions between them, New England, East North Central, West North Central, South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central and Pacific, fell somewhere inside it, and FHFA’s division files carry their individual values.
Middle Atlantic at the top, Mountain at the bottom
The Middle Atlantic division is New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania under the Census Bureau’s grouping. It posted both the largest July increase and the largest annual increase of any division. The Mountain division, which spans eight states from Montana to Arizona, posted the smallest July change and the smallest annual change,, and its monthly figure is the only negative one the release reports.
The Mountain decline needs careful reading. Its fall is monthly, 0.8 percent in July alone, while its year-over-year change remains a small gain of 0.6 percent. FHFA also reported that June was revised to 0.0 percent nationally, so the 0.3 percent July rise follows a flat month rather than a run of gains.
What a divergent market does to paper equity
A house price index measures the change in prices, not the equity an owner holds, which is the market value minus the loan balance. The arithmetic of that difference is what makes a regional spread matter. A 6.3 percent rise in value adds a larger share to the equity of an owner with a thin cushion than to an owner who has paid down most of the loan, and a 0.8 percent monthly fall subtracts proportionately more from the thin cushion as well. None of that is reported by FHFA; it follows from how equity is calculated.
Across a year, the divergence compounds the same way. An owner in a division that gained 6.3 percent saw paper value rise at more than twice the national pace, while an owner in one that gained 0.6 percent saw value barely move. Whether any individual owner is better or worse off depends on the home’s own price path, which a division average cannot show.
What FHFA’s purchase-only index measures
FHFA’s house price index overview distinguishes two products. The monthly index is purchase-only, using prices from sales transactions of mortgage data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The quarterly all-transactions index adds prices from appraisal data from the same enterprises, which gives a broader but slower-moving picture.
FHFA’s answers on the index add the limits. The flagship index tracks conventional conforming mortgages acquired by the enterprises, and it excludes non-conforming loans and non-conventional mortgages such as FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed loans. FHFA calls its measure constant-quality, meaning it follows price changes on the same properties, which differs from median-price statistics that also move with the mix of homes sold. It describes the Case-Shiller index as using a repeat-sales method too, with differences in technique and data.
Revisions and the reading due on October 27
FHFA says the index is revised as new repeat transactions arrive and as the enterprises purchase seasoned loans months after origination, with the largest revisions in the most recent periods. A July division ranking can therefore change when later data fill in. The agency’s next release, covering August 2026, is scheduled for October 27, 2026.
The sourced picture is the one FHFA published on September 29: national prices up 0.3 percent in July and 2.6 percent on the year, Middle Atlantic up 1.5 and 6.3 percent, and Mountain down 0.8 percent on the month and up 0.6 percent on the year, per the agency’s published datasets.
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An AI model assisted with the first draft of this article; the agency figures were verified against FHFA’s own pages.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
