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Economy in Brief
U.S. Current Account Deficit Continued to Widen in Q2
The U.S. current account deficit widened slightly to $190.3 last quarter from $189.4 billion in Q1...
U.S. Energy Prices Rose
Retail gasoline prices edged up to $3.18 per gallon (+46.9% y/y) in the week ended September 20...
New Record High in U.K. Orders
U.K. industrial orders took another strong step higher in September...
U.S. Home Builder Index Rebounds in September
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index rose 1.3% m/m (-8.4% y/y) to 76 in September...
German PPI Surges to Largest Gain Since Early '70S Oil Shock
Germany's headline PPI surged 1.6% m/m in August...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
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 |
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