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Economy in Brief
FIBER: Industrial Commodity Prices Improve Modestly
The FIBER Industrial Materials Price Index increased 0.9% during the four weeks ended April 9...
EMU Retail Sales Jump, Regaining Some of the January Drop
February finds EU retail sales and motor vehicle registration rebounding...
U.S. PPI Posts Broad-Based Strength in March
The Producer Price Index for final demand jumped 1.0% (4.2% y/y) during March...
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Monetary Policy Blunder: Not Managing Economic & Financial Outcomes Equally
Monetary Policy at a Crossroad: Policymakers Need to Break Promise of Easy Money to Avoid Boom-Bust
State Coincident Indexes in January
Data Surprises, Markets and COVID
by Gerald D. Cohen August 25, 2020
• 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.
| FHFA U.S. House Price Index, Purchase Only (SA %) |
Jun | May | Apr | Jun Y/Y | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.9 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 6.4 |
| New England | 1.2 | -1.0 | -0.5 | 5.3 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 5.6 |
| Middle Atlantic | -0.1 | -0.1 | 0.1 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 4.7 |
| East North Central | 1.0 | -0.3 | 0.4 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 5.8 |
| West North Central | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 5.6 | 5.1 | 6.0 | 5.2 |
| South Atlantic | 0.9 | 0.4 | -0.4 | 6.2 | 5.8 | 7.1 | 6.5 |
| East South Central | 1.3 | -0.5 | 0.5 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 5.5 |
| West South Central | 0.9 | -0.3 | 0.6 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 6.1 |
| Mountain | 1.2 | -0.4 | -0.1 | 7.6 | 7.1 | 9.1 | 8.4 |
| Pacific | 1.3 | -0.7 | -0.1 | 5.5 | 4.7 | 7.4 | 8.4 |
