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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Fell Back in February, but Still in Recent Range
The NAR U.S. Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index decreased 7.6% (-1.4% y/y) in February to 173.1...
European New Car Registrations Remarkably Strong Yet Forgettable
Car registrations are not going to be the only statistic that bears these dual and seemingly dueling characteristics...
U.S. Retail Sales Soar in March
Total retail sales including food service and drinking establishments increased 9.8% (27.7% y/y) during March...
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounded in March
Industrial production rebounded in March, rising 1.4% m/m (+1.0% y/y)...
U.S. Home Builder Index Edges Higher in April
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index rose 1.2% to 83 during April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller February 25, 2020
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index increased 0.6% during December following a 0.3% November gain, revised from 0.2% and a 0.3% increase in October. Prices rose 5.3% during all of 2019, the weakest increase since 2015. During the last three months, prices rose at a 5.0% annual rate.
A 1.0% m/m increase in home prices was logged in the South Atlantic (5.8% y/y), East North Central (5.9% y/y) and Mountain (7.4% y/y) sections of the country. In the West North Central region, prices improved 0.8% (4.9% y/y. Rising a firm 0.7% were prices in the Middle Atlantic region (4.1% y/y) and in New England (4.3% y/y).
Lesser gains were logged elsewhere in the country, except the East North Central region where prices declined 0.3% (+4.7% y/y).
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 %) |
Dec | Nov | Oct | Dec Y/Y | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 6.6 | 6.4 |
New England | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 5.6 |
Middle Atlantic | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 4.8 |
East North Central | -0.3 | 1.0 | -0.3 | 4.7 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 5.9 |
West North Central | 0.8 | 0.0 | -0.1 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 6.1 | 5.2 |
South Atlantic | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 7.2 | 6.6 |
East South Central | 1.0 | -0.4 | 0.7 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 5.6 |
West South Central | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 6.2 |
Mountain | 1.0 | -0.0 | 0.5 | 7.4 | 7.1 | 9.1 | 8.4 |
Pacific | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 4.8 | 4.6 | 7.5 | 8.5 |