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Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller September 25, 2018
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases increased 0.2% in July (6.4% y/y) following a 0.3% June gain, revised from 0.2%. It was the weakest increase since March. Over the last three months, the index rose at a diminished 3.6% annual rate.
By region, states in the South Atlantic states realized a 1.1% increase in hose prices (7.3% y/y). Prices rose 0.2% in the East North Central (6.0% y/y) and Pacific (7.8% y/y) regions. Prices in the Mountain region ticked 0.1% higher (8.8% y/y).
Prices were unchanged in the West North Central region (6.3% y/y).
Elsewhere in the country, prices eased during July. In the East South Central region, a 0.5% m/m decline left prices up 5.5% y/y. Prices fell 0.2% (+5.1% y/y) in the Middle Atlantic states. Prices eased 0.1% both in New England (+4.7% y/y) and the West South Central (+4.8% y/y) region.
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 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 %) |
Jul | Jun | May | Jul Y/Y | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 6.1 | 5.4 |
| New England | -0.1 | -0.1 | 0.6 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 4.1 | 3.3 |
| Middle Atlantic | -0.2 | 0.7 | -0.1 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 2.6 |
| East North Central | 0.2 | 0.5 | -0.3 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 5.4 | 4.3 |
| West North Central | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| South Atlantic | 1.1 | -0.3 | 0.6 | 7.3 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.2 |
| East South Central | -0.5 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 5.1 | 4.6 |
| West South Central | -0.1 | -0.1 | 0.7 | 4.8 | 6.6 | 6.0 | 6.2 |
| Mountain | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 8.8 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 7.7 |
| Pacific | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 7.8 | 8.8 | 8.1 | 7.8 |
|
