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- US: Import & Export Prices, IP & Capacity Utilization (Jan), Monthly GDP (Nov)
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Economy in Brief
Import Prices Continue Their Decline; Both Oil and Nonoil Prices Move Lower
Import prices fell a greater-than-expected 0.5% during January (-1.7% year-on-year)...
Empire State Manufacturing Activity Improves Modestly
The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions rose to 8.8 during February...
U.S. Retail Sales Exhibit Extensive Weakness
Total retail sales declined 1.2% (+2.3% y/y) during December...
U.S. Producer Prices Decline; Core PPI Rises
The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index edged down 0.1% for the second consecutive month in January (+2.0% y/y)...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Edge Back Higher
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 239,000 in the week ended February 9...
by Sandy Batten December 21, 2017
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 6.6% y/y in October, up only slightly from a 6.5% y/y increase in September. While this reading is down from the recent peak of 7.1% in April, the annual pace of house price appreciation has been relatively stable throughout 2017, fluctuating between 6.5% and 7.1%. In the month of October, prices rose 0.5% m/m, the same increase as in September and slightly above the consensus market expectation. Over the past three months, prices have increased at a 7.4% annual rate.
The annual performance of home prices continued to vary significantly across the country. On the strong side were the Pacific, Mountain and East South Central regions where prices rose 8.7% y/y, 8.2% y/y and 8.2% y/y, respectively.
These relatively strong y/y gains were followed by the South Atlantic, East North Central and Middle Atlantic regions where prices increased roughly 6.0% y/y.
Somewhat slower annual house price appreciation occurred in the New England, West South Central and West North Central regions.
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 also includes refinancings on the same kinds 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.
FHFA U.S. House Price Index, Purchase Only (SA %) |
Oct | Sep | Aug | Oct Y/Y | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 5.6 | 5.3 |
Pacific | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 8.7 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 9.3 |
Mountain | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 7.1 |
East South Central | 2.8 | -0.6 | 0.4 | 8.2 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 3.3 |
South Atlantic | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 6.2 | 7.2 | 6.3 | 5.6 |
East North Central | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 6.1 | 5.4 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
Middle Atlantic | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 6.0 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
New England | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 5.7 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 2.9 |
West South Central | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 5.5 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 5.5 |
West North Central | -0.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
Mountain: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah,
Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. |