House Prices Up Slightly, Delinquencies Down in Third Quarter Across Most Eighth District States

ST. LOUIS – House prices in five of the seven states that comprise the Federal Reserve's Eighth District rose slightly in the third quarter of 2012, according to the St. Louis Fed’s latest Housing Market Conditions report. At the same time, the percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages fell in most Eighth District states, which are comprised of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.*

The quarterly report is now available on the St. Louis Fed's HMC web site at http://www.stlouisfed.org/community_development/HMC/.

The report provides a snapshot and analysis of housing market conditions in the U.S. and for each Eighth District state using historical house price index graphs, color-coded heat maps of seriously delinquent mortgages by zip code and a list of each state's top ten zip codes with mortgages under stress. Each report is also available in PDF format.

House Prices

Compared with the second quarter of 2012, prices rose 1.2 percent in Arkansas; 0.9 percent in Indiana; 0.3 percent in Kentucky, 1.1 percent in Mississippi and 0.2 percent in Missouri. Meanwhile, prices declined 0.5 percent in Illinois and 0.4 percent in Tennessee. Nationally, house prices rose an average 1 percent.

On a year-over-year basis, prices rose in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky and Mississippi, with Arkansas showing the largest increase of 5.4 percent. In Indiana, prices were up 3.4 percent compared with the third quarter of 2011; Kentucky prices were up 2.8 percent and Mississippi prices were up 3.2 percent. Illinois prices were down 2 percent compared this time last year, while Missouri prices were down 0.6 percent and Tennessee prices down 0.3 percent. Nationally, house prices rose an average 3.3 percent compared with the third quarter of 2011.

Seriously Delinquent Mortgages

The number of seriously delinquent home mortgages (90+ days overdue, or in foreclosure) fell in all states except Arkansas in the third quarter of 2012. Delinquencies fell 38 basis points in Illinois; 18 basis points in Indiana; 21 basis points in Kentucky; 22 basis points in Mississippi; 23 basis points in Missouri and 22 percent in Tennessee. In Arkansas, third quarter delinquencies were up 10 basis points.

Nationally, third quarter delinquencies fell 29 basis points.

In spite of its small rise in delinquencies during the third quarter, Arkansas’s average percentage of total delinquencies stood at 6.22 percent, still below the national average of 6.93 percent. Meanwhile, total delinquencies stood at 9.36 percent in Illinois, 7 percent in Indiana, 5.58 percent in Kentucky, 4.19 percent in Missouri, 8.63 percent in Mississippi and 5.7 percent in Tennessee.

The fourth quarter 2012 report will be released in early-to-mid March.

*Please note: While the Eighth District is comprised of the entire state of Arkansas and only parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, analysis is conducted on a statewide basis for each state's respective report.