Recent Updates
- US: New Residential Sales, Final Building Permits (Aug)
- Belgium: Business Surveys (Sep)
- Armenia: Monetary Aggregates, Analytical Accounts of the CBA (Aug)
- Mexico: Service Sector (Jul)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Financial Accounts Show Sizable Credit Demand in Q2, but Down Slightly from Q1
Borrowing in the U.S. economy totaled $5.233 trillion, seasonally adjusted annual rate, in the second quarter...
IFO Shows Slowing in September
The IFO climate index backtracked, falling to 16.0 in September...
Index of Leading Indicators Rose Again in August
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.9% m/m (10.0% y/y) in August...
Chicago Fed National Activity Index Falls in August
The CFNAI fell to 0.29 in August after rising to 0.75 in July...
U.S. Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Slightly Again but Still Remain Near Pandemic Low
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 351,000 (-59.2% y/y) for the week ended September 18...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller September 23, 2020
• FHFA home price index gains continue to improve.
• Price increases are widespread across the country.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index strengthened 1.0% during July following a like increase in June, revised from 0.9%. Over the last year, home prices have strengthened 6.5%.
Home prices increased in each of the nine census divisions. Prices were strongest in New England where they improved 2.0% (7.0% y/y) and in the East South Central region where they rose 1.4% (7.7% y/y). Prices rose 1.3% (6.7% y/y) in the East North Central region.
In the Mountain region, home prices increased 1.1% (7.7% y/y) and by 1.0% (5.7% y/y) in the Middle Atlantic states as well as in the Pacific region (5.9% y/y).
Moderate gains were logged elsewhere with 0.8% increases in the South Atlantic (6.8% y/y) and West South Central (5.4% y/y) regions. In the West North Central region of the country house prices rose a lessened 0.6% (6.2% 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.
Did the $600 Unemployment Supplement Discourage Work? from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco can be found here.
| FHFA U.S. House Price Index, Purchase Only (SA %) |
Jul | Jun | May | Jul Y/Y | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 1.0 | 1.0 | -0.2 | 6.5 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 6.3 |
| New England | 2.0 | 1.3 | -1.1 | 7.0 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 5.6 |
| Middle Atlantic | 1.0 | 0.3 | -0.0 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 4.7 |
| East North Central | 1.3 | 0.9 | -0.3 | 6.7 | 5.4 | 6.4 | 5.8 |
| West North Central | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 6.2 | 5.1 | 6.0 | 5.1 |
| South Atlantic | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 6.8 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 6.5 |
| East South Central | 1.4 | 1.3 | -0.3 | 7.7 | 5.9 | 6.0 | 5.5 |
| West South Central | 0.8 | 1.1 | -0.3 | 5.4 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 6.0 |
| Mountain | 1.1 | 1.3 | -0.5 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 9.0 | 8.3 |
| Pacific | 1.0 | 1.3 | -0.8 | 5.9 | 4.7 | 7.3 | 8.4 |
