US home price index rose in May

U.S. home prices rose 0.8 percent April to May, but rose only 0.7 percent March to April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday. The agency previously reported the March to April gain as 0.8 percent. That estimate has been revised 0.1 percentage points lower, the agency said. Although the U.S. home price index is 17 percent below the peak hit in April 2007, for the past 12 months, home prices in the survey have risen 3.7 percent. Home prices are now at roughly the same level as May 2004, the report said. The agency's House Price Index tracks prices for homes with mortgages backed by either the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., better known as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.