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Economy in Brief
U.S. FHFA House Prices Continued to Rise in April
The FHFA House Price Index increased 1.6% during April...
U.S. Advance Trade Deficit Narrowed Slightly in May
The advance estimate of the U.S. international trade deficit in goods narrowed to $104.3 billion in May...
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The AAA retail price of gasoline fell seven cents to $4.94 per gallon (+60.4% y/y) in the week ended June 24...
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French confidence is weak in June 2022...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Firm in May
Manufacturers' new orders for durable goods exhibited unexpected improvement in May...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller October 23, 2019
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index increased 0.2% in August, following an unrevised 0.4% increase in July. During the last twelve months, home prices improved 4.6%, the weakest growth since late 2014. That growth was down from a 7.4% peak early in 2018. During the last six months, prices increased at a 3.5% annual rate, the slowest pace since early 2012.
Home price movement varied greatly during August. It was strongest in New England where prices rose an improved 0.9% (5.0% y/y). In the East North Central (5.3% y/y) and the West North Central (4.7% y/y) regions, prices rose 0.5%. Home prices also rose an improved 0.4% (4.7% y/y) in the West South Central section of the country.
In the Middle Atlantic states home prices rose 0.2% (3.9% y/y) after a 0.3% rise, but in the Pacific region they were unchanged (3.9% y/y) following a 0.5% increase.
House price deflation was logged in three regions during August, with the largest decline coming in prices in the East South Central area where they fell 0.8% (+4.0% y/y). Prices also ticked 0.1% lower in the South Atlantic (+4.2% y/y) and Mountain (+6.5% y/y) regions, the latter following a 1.2% July surge.
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 %) |
Aug | Jul | Jun | Aug Y/Y | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 4.6 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.0 |
New England | 0.9 | 0.7 | -0.2 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 4.1 |
Middle Atlantic | 0.2 | 0.3 | -0.2 | 3.9 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
East North Central | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 6.0 | 5.2 |
West North Central | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 4.7 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 5.5 |
South Atlantic | -0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 4.2 | 7.3 | 6.7 | 6.8 |
East South Central | -0.8 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 5.0 |
West South Central | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 4.7 | 5.4 | 6.3 | 5.6 |
Mountain | -0.1 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 6.5 | 9.2 | 8.6 | 7.8 |
Pacific | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 3.9 | 7.5 | 8.6 | 8.0 |
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