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Special Topics
by Tom Moeller April 23, 2019
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases rose 0.3% in February following an unrevised 0.6% January increase. The 4.9% y/y increase was the weakest since early-2015, down from a 7.6% high early in 2018.
Monthly increases in prices were strongest in the East South Central and New England regions of the country, although y/y increases were either moderately below or stable with last year.
Home price inflation decelerated sharply in the East North Central, West North Central, West South Central and Pacific regions of the country.
Declines in house prices were logged in February in both the Middle Atlantic and Mountain regions. Twelve-month price increases slowed dramatically after strengthening during all of last year.
The FHFA house price index is a weighted purchase-only index that measures average price changes in repeat sales of the same property. 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 %) |
Feb | Jan | Dec | Feb Y/Y | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 4.9 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 6.0 |
| New England | 1.1 | -0.6 | 0.9 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 4.1 |
| Middle Atlantic | -1.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 5.5 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| East North Central | 0.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 5.7 | 6.5 | 6.0 | 5.3 |
| West North Central | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4.9 | 6.2 | 5.4 | 5.6 |
| South Atlantic | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| East South Central | 1.4 | 0.1 | -0.2 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 5.0 |
| West South Central | 0.4 | 0.8 | -0.2 | 3.5 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 5.7 |
| Mountain | -0.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 6.5 | 9.3 | 8.6 | 7.8 |
| Pacific | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 7.7 | 8.6 | 8.0 |
|
