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Economy in Brief
U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly Dips in May After Seven Straight Monthly Rises
The value of construction put-in-place ticked down 0.1% m/m (+9.7% y/y) in May...
Developed Economies Manufacturing Sectors Hit Hard in June
Among the 18 countries in the table that report manufacturing PMI data in June, only four show m/m improvements...
U.S. Income Gained, Spending Slowed in May
Personal income growth remained solid while household spending slowed in May...
U.S. Chicago Business Barometer Falls Back in June to the Lowest Level since Aug. '20
The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell to 56.0...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Edged Down
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended June 25 declined by 2,000 to 231,000...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller June 24, 2020
• Prices declined or were unchanged in several areas.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index improved 0.2% during April following a 0.1% uptick in March. The y/y gain eased slightly to 5.5%. Over the past three months, house price inflation fell to 4.8% (AR), down from 9.0% in February.
Prices declined 0.5% (+5.2% y/y) in the South Atlantic region and by 0.2% (+5.3% y/y) in New England.
In the Pacific region (5.5% y/y) and in the Mountain states (6.8% y/y), prices were fairly steady m/m. In the Middle Atlantic region, prices ticked 0.1% higher (5.0% y/y).
Prices were strong in the West South Central region where they rose 0.8% (5.1% y/y).
Increases of 0.6% were logged both in the East North Central (5.8% y/y) and West North Central (5.3% y/y) regions. Prices improved 0.5% (5.9% y/y) in the East South Central region of the country.
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 %) |
Apr | Mar | Feb | Apr Y/Y | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 6.6 | 6.4 |
| New England | -0.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 5.6 |
| Middle Atlantic | 0.1 | -0.2 | 0.8 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 4.8 |
| East North Central | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 5.9 |
| West North Central | 0.6 | -0.4 | 1.2 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 6.1 | 5.2 |
| South Atlantic | -0.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 7.2 | 6.6 |
| East South Central | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 5.6 |
| West South Central | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 5.1 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 6.2 |
| Mountain | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 9.1 | 8.4 |
| Pacific | -0.0 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 5.5 | 4.7 | 7.5 | 8.5 |
