U.S. FHFA House Prices Continue to Rise in November
Summary
- FHFA HPI +0.3% m/m in Nov.; +6.6% y/y, the highest y/y rate since Dec.’22.
- House prices rise m/m in six of nine census divisions, but those in New England ease 0.2%.
- House prices gain y/y in all of the nine regions, w/ the highest rate in New England (9.8%).
U.S. house prices rose 0.3% m/m in November after unrevised rises of 0.3% in October and 0.7% in September, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index. The November reading was the 11th consecutive monthly rise to the highest index level on record (417.36). The year-on-year rate of increase accelerated to 6.6% in November, the highest since December 2022, from 6.3% in October; nevertheless, decelerating from 8.2% in November 2022 and a high of 18.9% in February 2022.
The month-on-month increases in house prices were evident in November (vs. October) in six of the nine census divisions. These included Mountain (+0.7% vs. -0.1%), East North Central (+0.4% vs. +0.6%), South Atlantic (+0.4% vs. +0.1%), Middle Atlantic (+0.3% vs. +0.9%), West North Central (+0.3% vs. +0.4%), and Pacific (+0.3% vs. +0.1%). In contrast, house prices in New England fell 0.2% in November, the first m/m fall since May 2023, after holding steady in October. Meanwhile, house prices in East South Central were virtually unchanged in November after a 0.7% increase in October and those in West South Central held steady following a 0.1% October downtick.
Year-on-year house prices continued to gain in November, with the pace of advance accelerating (vs. October) in five of the nine census divisions. These included East North Central (9.1% vs. 9.0%), South Atlantic (7.4% vs. 7.2%), East South Central (6.8% vs. 6.1%), Mountain (4.6% vs. 2.7%), and Pacific (4.4% vs. 3.0%). Meanwhile, house price growth decelerated y/y in November (vs. October) in New England (9.8% vs. 10.0%), Middle Atlantic (8.8% vs. 9.8%), West North Central (6.1% vs. 6.5%), and West South Central (3.1% vs. 3.5%).
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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