Recent Updates
- US: Consumer Sentiment (Mar-final), Personal Income (Feb)
- US: Consumer Sentiment (Mar-final)
- Bosnia: IP (Feb)
- Canada: Payroll Employment, Earnings, & Hours (Jan)
- Canada Regional: Payroll Employment, Earnings, & Hours by Province (Jan)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Italy Is Whacked by Corona-world
No country is battling harder than Italy whose economy is now starting to show some severe strains...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Soar to Record 3.3 Million
Initial jobless claims jumped to a record 3.283 million in the week ending March 21...
Kansas City Fed Factory Index Collapses
The Kansas City Fed reported that its reading of manufacturing business activity plunged to -17 in March...
U.S. GDP Growth Remains at 2.1% in Q4
U.S. GDP was unrevised in the fourth quarter of 2019 at 2.1% (SAAR) the same as in the advance estimate and the February report...
Advance U.S. Trade Deficit in Goods Shrinks in February
The advance estimate of the U.S. trade deficit in goods narrowed to $59.88 billion in February...
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 |
|
