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Economy in Brief
U.S. Durable Goods Orders' December Gain Disappoints
Manufacturers' orders for durable goods increased 0.2% during December (1.4% y/y)...
U.S. Mortgage Applications Tumble
The MBA Mortgage Loan Applications Index fell 4.1% w/w (+39.7% y/y) in the weekend January 22...
German Consumer Confidence in February Is Projected Much Lower
The forward-looking GfK consumer confidence/climate gauge for February has stumbled for the fourth month in a row...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Recovers During January
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased 2.5% (-31.5% y/y) to 89.3 during January...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Rose Further in November
The FHFA House Price Index increased 1.0% m/m in November...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller July 23, 2019
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that its House Price Index for home purchases inched 0.1% higher during May after an unrevised 0.4% April rise. It was the weakest m/m gain since January 2017 and lowered the y/y rate of increase to 5.0%, down from the 7.6% peak y/y rate gain in January 2018. Over the past six months, prices have increased at a 4.4% annual rate.
For the nine census divisions, the seasonally adjusted monthly change in house prices in May ranged from -1.0% m/m in East South Central region to 0.5% in the South Atlantic region. Prices declined in May in four regions of the country.
Increases during the last twelve months also varied significantly. Home prices rose 6.7% y/y in the Mountain region, down from a 10.3% recent peak in January 2018. Prices rose a greatly lessened 3.6% y/y in the West South Central region, half the rate of increase early in 2018.
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 %) |
May | Apr | Mar | May Y/Y | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 5.0 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 6.0 |
| New England | 0.4 | 0.5 | -0.5 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 4.1 |
| Middle Atlantic | 0.4 | -0.0 | 0.5 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| East North Central | 0.3 | 0.5 | -0.5 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 6.0 | 5.3 |
| West North Central | 0.1 | -0.3 | 1.3 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 5.4 | 5.6 |
| South Atlantic | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 5.6 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| East South Central | -1.0 | 1.1 | -0.5 | 6.6 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 5.0 |
| West South Central | -0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 5.7 |
| Mountain | -0.3 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 6.7 | 9.2 | 8.6 | 7.8 |
| Pacific | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 4.5 | 7.6 | 8.6 | 8.0 |
|
