U.S. FHFA House Prices Drop in April After Holding Steady
Summary
- Apr. FHFA HPI -0.4% m/m (+3.0% y/y, lowest since May ’23); 0.0% m/m (+3.9% y/y) in Mar.
- House prices down m/m in five of nine census divisions but up in Middle Atlantic, East South Central, East North Central, and West North Central.
- House prices up y/y in all of the nine regions, w/ the highest rate in Middle Atlantic (7.4%) and the lowest rate in Pacific (0.5%).
U.S. house prices fell 0.4% m/m in April after holding steady in both March (-0.1% initially) and February (unrevised), according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index. The April HPI at 434.93 was the lowest index level since November but 12.7% above a low of 385.83 in August 2022. The April m/m reading was the first monthly fall since -0.4% m/m in August 2022. The year-on-year rate of increase decelerated to 3.0% in April, the lowest since May 2023, from 3.9% in March; thus, having remained lower than 6.6% in April 2024 and well below a high of 18.7% in February 2022.
House prices dropped m/m in April (vs. March) in five of the nine census divisions. These included South Atlantic (-1.3% vs. 0.4%), West South Central (-1.3% vs. 0.1%), Mountain (-1.0% vs. -0.8%), Pacific (-0.7% vs. -0.5%), and New England (-0.3% vs. -0.03%). To the upside, house prices rose m/m in four census divisions in April (vs. March): Middle Atlantic (1.2% vs. 0.2%), East South Central (0.9% vs. 0.9%), East North Central (0.1% vs. -0.01%), and West North Central (0.1% vs. -0.2%).
Year-on-year house prices continued to gain in April. However, the pace of increase decelerated y/y in April (vs. March) in seven of the nine census divisions. These were Pacific (0.5% vs. 1.7%), West South Central (0.7% vs. 2.2%), Mountain (1.4% vs. 2.6%), South Atlantic (1.6% vs. 3.4%), West North Central (3.3% vs. 4.1%), New England (5.5% vs. 6.6%), and East North Central (5.7% vs. 5.9%). Meanwhile, house price growth accelerated y/y in April (vs. March) in the Middle Atlantic region (7.4% vs. 6.2%). House price growth in the East South Central region held steady at 4.4% 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 refinancing the same kind 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.
Winnie Tapasanun
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Winnie Tapasanun has been working for Haver Analytics since 2013. She has 20+ years of working in the financial services industry. As Vice President and Economic Analyst at Globicus International, Inc., a New York-based company specializing in macroeconomics and financial markets, Winnie oversaw the company’s business operations, managed financial and economic data, and wrote daily reports on macroeconomics and financial markets. Prior to working at Globicus, she was Investment Promotion Officer at the New York Office of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) where she wrote monthly reports on the U.S. economic outlook, wrote reports on the outlook of key U.S. industries, and assisted investors on doing business and investment in Thailand. Prior to joining the BOI, she was Adjunct Professor teaching International Political Economy/International Relations at the City College of New York. Prior to her teaching experience at the CCNY, Winnie successfully completed internships at the United Nations. Winnie holds an MA Degree from Long Island University, New York. She also did graduate studies at Columbia University in the City of New York and doctoral requirements at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her areas of specialization are international political economy, macroeconomics, financial markets, political economy, international relations, and business development/business strategy. Her regional specialization includes, but not limited to, Southeast Asia and East Asia. Winnie is bilingual in English and Thai with competency in French. She loves to travel (~30 countries) to better understand each country’s unique economy, fascinating culture and people as well as the global economy as a whole.
More Economy in Brief
