Recent Updates
- US: Wholesale Trade (Feb), Producer Prices (Mar)
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- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Total PMIs Gain Traction in March
The PMI readings for March show improvement again...
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Bounces Back in February
Consumer credit outstanding surged $27.6 billion during February...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to Record during February
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $71.1 during February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller June 21, 2018
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices nudged 0.1% higher (6.4% y/y) during April after a 0.2% March rise, revised from 0.1%. Over the past three months, prices have risen at a 4.7% annual rate, down from a 9.1% rate as of February.
Around the country, monthly home price depreciation occurred during April in the West South Central (+6.0% y/y) and the Middle Atlantic (+4.9% y/y) regions.
Versus last year, home prices in the Mountain (8.9% y/y) and Pacific (8.3% y/y) regions exhibited the strongest rates of growth.
Moderated annual growth rates were realized in the South Atlantic (6.6% y/y) and West North Central (6.0% y/y) regions of the country.
Weaker rates of home price increase were found in the East South Central (5.6% y/y) and New England (4.9% y/y) regions of the country.
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 %) |
Apr | Mar | Feb | Apr Y/Y | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 6.1 | 5.4 |
| Mountain | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 7.7 |
| Pacific | 0.1 | -0.3 | 1.4 | 8.3 | 8.8 | 8.1 | 7.8 |
| East North Central | 0.6 | -0.1 | 0.7 | 6.6 | 6.1 | 5.4 | 4.4 |
| South Atlantic | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 6.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.2 |
| West South Central | -0.5 | -0.2 | 1.6 | 6.0 | 6.6 | 6.0 | 6.2 |
| West North Central | 0.6 | -0.1 | 0.7 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 4.1 |
| East South Central | 0.4 | -0.4 | 1.0 | 5.6 | 5.9 | 5.1 | 4.6 |
| Middle Atlantic | -0.4 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 2.6 |
| New England | 0.5 | -0.8 | 1.0 | 4.9 | 5.9 | 4.1 | 3.3 |
|
