This morning, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released the latest data on house prices for states and metropolitan areas.  The data for Arkansas show a rather sharp decline in in the first quarter of 2010:  The purchase-only index was down 2.5 percent from a year earlier, while the all-transactions index was down 1.4 percent over the same period.  (For a description of these indexes, see the previous post, Home Prices in 2009.)

Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency

In the first quarter of 2010, house prices were down rather sharply in four of the state’s metro areas.  [For Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), only the all-transactions indexes are available.]  Prices were down 4.8 percent in Fort Smith, 2.7 percent in Northwest Arkansas, 1.5 percent in Jonesboro and 1.1 percent in the Little Rock area.  Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and Texarkana all recorded small increases for the quarter.  

Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency

Compared to a year earlier, house prices are lower in every Arkansas MSA except Pine Bluff.  Over the longer run, however, prices in each of the states MSAs are higher than five years ago (2005:Q1).