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Economy in Brief
Surging Imports Send the EMU Trade Scene Deeper into Deficit
The trade balance for the Euro Area fell sharply to 17.5 billion euros in March...
U.S. Import Prices Hold Steady While Export Prices Rise in April
Import prices held steady m/m (+12.0% y/y) in April...
EMU IP Drops Month-to-Month and Year-over-Year
Industrial output among EMU members fell by 1.8% month-to-month in March...
U.S. Producer Price Inflation Moderates in April
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand increased 0.5% during April...
U.S. Housing Affordability Plunges in March
Affordable homes are in short supply...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation & Fed Policy: A Relationship Which Should Worry The Fed And Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
"Core" GDP Suggests Economy Gained Momentum in Q1:2022
by Tom Moeller February 22, 2022
• House price advance doubles in 2021.
• Strength is broad regionally.
• December's price gain is led by New England.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index increased 1.2% (17.6% y/y) during December after a 1.2% November rise, revised from 1.1%. During all of 2021, house prices rose a record 16.8%, following a 7.9% increase in 2020. The home price series dates back to January 1991.
December-to-December, price gains were led by the Mountain region (23.2% y/y), South Atlantic states (20.6% y/y) and the Pacific (19.4% y/y) regions.
Not far behind were gains in the East South Central (18.5% y/y), West South Central (17.9% y/y) regions and New England (16.5% y/y).
Hefty price gains occurred last year also in the East North Central (14.1% y/y), West North Central (13.9% y/y) and Middle Atlantic (13.4% 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 %) |
Dec | Nov | Oct | Dec Y/Y | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 17.6 | 16.8 | 7.9 | 5.2 |
| New England | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 16.5 | 17.7 | 8.2 | 4.7 |
| Middle Atlantic | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 13.4 | 15.1 | 7.4 | 4.4 |
| East North Central | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 14.1 | 14.4 | 7.8 | 5.3 |
| West North Central | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 13.9 | 13.9 | 7.2 | 5.0 |
| South Atlantic | 1.1 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 20.6 | 18.0 | 8.2 | 5.5 |
| East South Central | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 18.5 | 16.6 | 8.2 | 5.8 |
| West South Central | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 17.9 | 15.6 | 6.4 | 4.5 |
| Mountain | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 23.2 | 22.0 | 10.0 | 7.0 |
| Pacific | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 19.4 | 18.9 | 8.1 | 4.5 |
