U.S. FHFA House Prices Strengthen in September
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Monthly rise is largest since February; y/y gain eases.
- Annual increases pick up in all but two of nine regions.
House prices increased 0.7% during September, as measured by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index. The gain followed a 0.4% rise in the August reading and a 0.1% June uptick. The 4.4% y/y increase was steady, but reduced from the recent high of 7.3% in February. It was below the peak 18.9% rate of gain in July 2013.
Price strength in September was led by a 7.1% y/y rise in the Middle Atlantic region of the country, where prices rose 1.3% m/m after rising 0.5% m/m in August.
Somewhat lesser y/y strength was registered last month in New England where prices rose 6.3 y/y and 1.5% m/m in September. House prices in the East North-Central region also rose 6.3% y/y but that was down from 9.1% in 2023. Prices rose 0.2% m/m in September. Home prices in the East South-Central region increased 6.3% y/y, about the same as in 2023. They rose 1.4% m/m in September. A 5.3% y/y rise in house prices was logged in the West North-Central region after a 6.1% y/y rise in 2023, with a 0.7% September m/m gain.
The slowest annual gains were in the Mountain region where a 3.9% y/y increase was logged, but prices spiked 1.7% in September alone. Prices in the Pacific region increased 2.9% y/y after a 5.2% gain in 2023, and a 0.4% September rise. In the West South-Central region, home prices increased 1.2% y/y after a 3.5% y/y 2023 rise, with no change in September prices.
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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