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Economy in Brief
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...
Total PMIs Gain Traction in March
The PMI readings for March show improvement again...
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Bounces Back in February
Consumer credit outstanding surged $27.6 billion during February...
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 Tom Moeller November 24, 2020
• Home price gain sets record for second straight month.
• Prices strengthen across the country.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index jumped 1.7% during September following an unrevised 1.5% August increase. The September gain was the largest monthly increase in the series' history, which dates back to January 1991. Over the past year, house prices have increased 9.1%, the fastest pace since February 2006. In the last three months, prices have risen at a 19.3% annual rate. up from 5.7% twelve months ago.
Home prices were strong across the country. Monthly price gains were strongest in Middle Atlantic (9.6% y/y), New England (10.1% y/y) and Mountain (11.2% y/y) sections.
Prices rose 1.8% in the West North Central (8.6% y/y), East South Central (9.3% y/y) and Pacific (9.7% y/y) regions.
Lesser monthly gains were logged in the South Atlantic (8.8% y/y), East North Central (8.7% y/y) and West South Central (7.7% y/y) regions 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 %) |
Sep | Aug | Jul | Sep Y/Y | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 9.1 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 6.3 |
New England | 2.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 10.1 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 5.6 |
Middle Atlantic | 2.4 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 9.6 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 4.7 |
East North Central | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 8.7 | 5.4 | 6.4 | 5.8 |
West North Central | 1.8 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 8.6 | 5.1 | 6.0 | 5.1 |
South Atlantic | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 8.8 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 6.5 |
East South Central | 1.8 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 9.3 | 5.9 | 6.0 | 5.5 |
West South Central | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 7.7 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 6.0 |
Mountain | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 11.2 | 7.1 | 9.0 | 8.3 |
Pacific | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 9.7 | 4.7 | 7.3 | 8.4 |