• FHFA home price index increases 0.9% in June after declining 0.2% in May (only COVID-related decrease).

• Eight out of nine regions show price gains.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index jumped 0.9% in June, following a slightly upwardly-revised 0.2% decrease in May (was -0.3%). Over the last year, home prices are up 5.7%, after growing 4.9% year-on-year in May and 6.1% y/y in February. Based on this measure, home prices are up 1.0% since February 2020.

Home prices increased month-on-month in eight of the nine census divisions, with price increases ranging from 0.6% in the West North Central to 1.3% in the East South Central and Pacific regions (5.6%, 6.3% and 5.5% y/y respectively). Meanwhile, prices edged down 0.1% in the Mid-Atlantic region and were up 4.3% y/y, the weakest regional y/y performance.

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.