U.S. FHFA House Prices Continue a String of Gains in December
Summary
- FHFA HPI +0.4% m/m (+4.7% y/y) in Dec.; +0.4% m/m (+4.5% y/y) in Nov.
- House prices rise m/m in seven of nine census divisions but ease 0.1% m/m in West North Central and West South Central.
- House prices up y/y in all of the nine regions, w/ the highest rate in New England (7.8%).
- House price growth accelerates to 1.4% q/q (+4.5% y/y) in Q4'24 from 0.9% q/q (+4.5% y/y) in Q3'24.
U.S. house prices rose 0.4% m/m in December after rises of 0.4% in November (+0.3% initially) and 0.5% in October (unrevised), according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index. The December reading was the 11th straight m/m gain. The December HPI at 436.10 was 12.8% above a low of 386.62 in August 2022 and 55.0% above a low of 281.33 in May 2020. The year-on-year rate of increase accelerated to 4.7% in December, the highest since July 2024, from 4.5% in November; nevertheless, having remained lower than 6.9% in December 2023 and well below a high of 18.7% in February 2022. During all of 2024, FHFA house prices rose 5.5% after having gained 4.9% in 2023 and 13.5% in 2022.
The FHFA also reported quarterly house price data today. In Q4'24, house prices grew 1.4% q/q, faster than a 0.9% increase in Q3'24, registering the ninth consecutive quarterly gain and the largest since Q4’23. The y/y growth rate registered at 4.5% in Q4 and Q3, 5.9% in Q2, and 6.8% in Q1.
House prices rose m/m in December (vs. November) in seven of the nine census divisions. These included Mountain (1.4% vs. 0.8%), Middle Atlantic (0.8% vs. 0.5%), East North Central (0.7% vs. 0.0%), East South Central (0.5% vs. -0.5%), New England (0.5% vs. 0.7%), South Atlantic (0.3% vs. 1.0%), and Pacific (0.2% vs. 0.7%). To the downside, house prices fell m/m in two census divisions in December (vs. November): West North Central (-0.1% vs. 0.6%) and West South Central (-0.1% vs. -0.2%).
Year-on-year house prices continued to gain in December, with the pace of advance accelerating (vs. November) in five of the nine census divisions. These were New England (7.8% vs. 7.5%), Middle Atlantic (7.2% vs. 6.8%), East North Central (6.5% vs. 5.9%), West North Central (5.4% vs. 5.1%), and Mountain (4.8% vs. 3.4%). Meanwhile, house price growth decelerated y/y in December (vs. November) in the following three census divisions: West South Central (2.0% vs. 2.2%), East South Central (4.1% vs. 4.2%), and South Atlantic (4.3% vs. 4.6%). House price growth in the Pacific region held virtually steady at 2.8% y/y.
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.
Winnie Tapasanun
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Winnie Tapasanun has been working for Haver Analytics since 2013. She has 20+ years of working in the financial services industry. As Vice President and Economic Analyst at Globicus International, Inc., a New York-based company specializing in macroeconomics and financial markets, Winnie oversaw the company’s business operations, managed financial and economic data, and wrote daily reports on macroeconomics and financial markets. Prior to working at Globicus, she was Investment Promotion Officer at the New York Office of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) where she wrote monthly reports on the U.S. economic outlook, wrote reports on the outlook of key U.S. industries, and assisted investors on doing business and investment in Thailand. Prior to joining the BOI, she was Adjunct Professor teaching International Political Economy/International Relations at the City College of New York. Prior to her teaching experience at the CCNY, Winnie successfully completed internships at the United Nations. Winnie holds an MA Degree from Long Island University, New York. She also did graduate studies at Columbia University in the City of New York and doctoral requirements at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her areas of specialization are international political economy, macroeconomics, financial markets, political economy, international relations, and business development/business strategy. Her regional specialization includes, but not limited to, Southeast Asia and East Asia. Winnie is bilingual in English and Thai with competency in French. She loves to travel (~30 countries) to better understand each country’s unique economy, fascinating culture and people as well as the global economy as a whole.
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