U.S. FHFA House Price Index Strengthens in August
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Price gain moderates m/m but accelerates y/y.
- House prices move up m/m in all but one region.
U.S. house prices rose 0.6% during August following an unrevised 0.8% July rise and a 0.5% June increase, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index. The latest index value was a record. Strength in home prices has lifted the y/y gain to 5.6% in August from 4.6% in July. Nevertheless, these price comparisons are below the 19.1% peak growth in July 2021.
Price strength in August was led by an 8.6% y/y rise in the Middle Atlantic region of the country, where price gains have exceeded 1.0% in four of the last five months. In the East North Central region, house prices rose 8.3% y/y and by 1.1% increases in each of the last two months. In New England, house prices increased 8.4% y/y, but by just 0.4% in August.
Somewhat lesser y/y strength was registered last month in the West North Central region where house prices rose 6.5% y/y, up from a 4.1% April low. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.0% in August, up from 0.6% in July. In the South Atlantic region, house prices gained 6.0% y/y, but eased 0.2% in August. House prices increased 5.2% y/y in the East South Central region, up modestly from the 4.1% y/y June low.
The weakest y/y price gains were logged in the West. In the West South Central region, house prices increased 2.9% y/y, restrained by a 0.6% decline during June. House prices in the Pacific region increased 2.8% y/y compared to negative y/y growth from January through June. Prices here surged 1.1% in August. In the Mountain region, house prices increased 2.4% y/y, though that was increased from negative y/y comparisons from March through June. Prices increased 0.7% in August.
The FHFA house price index is a weighted purchase-only index that measures average price changes in repeat sales of the same property. An associated quarterly index includes refinancing the same kind of properties. The indexes are based on transactions involving conforming conventional mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Only mortgage transactions on single-family properties are included.
The FHFA data are available in Haver’s USECON database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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