US house price growth continued at elevated pace in fourth quarter

House prices in the States increased at a slightly lower pace than expected in December, with the Northwestern and Central US clocking in with the largest annual gains.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency´s monthly house price index rose by 0.4% month-on-month, a tad below the 0.50% rise economists at Barclays had penciled in.

In terms of quarterly rates of change, house prices rose by 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015 and 5.7% year-on-year.

“Instability in financial markets did not seem to put much of a drag on home prices in the fourth quarter,” said FHFA Supervisory Economist Andrew Leventis.

“The fourth quarter 1.4 per cent increase for the U.S. was in line with the extremely steady—but historically elevated—appreciation rates we have been observing for several years now,” Leventis said

Versus the same quarter of 2015 gains were recorded in all states and in the District of Columbia, led by Nevada (12.7%), Colorado (10.9%), Idaho (10.7%), Washington (10.7%) and Oregon (10.6%).

Among the 100 most populated metropolitan areas, the biggest jump in prices was recorded in South San Francisco, where prices shot up by 20.7%.