• House prices rise to another record level.

• Strength is broad-based regionally.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index increased 1.5% during March (19.0% y/y) following a 1.9% February increase, revised from 2.1%. The FHFA indicated, "Strong demand coupled with tight supply have kept prices climbing. Through the end of March, higher mortgage rates have not yet translated into slower price gains." The home price series dates back to January 1991.

Pricing increases were most pronounced in the Mountain (24.7% y/y), South Atlantic (22.9% y/y), East South Central (21.4% y/y) and Pacific (19.7% y/y) regions.

Strength also was seen in the West South Central (18.6% y/y), New England (16.9% y/y), East North Central (15.4% y/y), Middle Atlantic (15.2% y/y) and West North Central (14.9%) regions.

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.