U.S. FHFA House Prices Fall Further in May
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Prices edge lower m/m.
- Annual increase moves to two-year low.
- Price changes are uneven amongst regions.
U.S. house prices weakened 0.2% (+2.8% y/y) during May after falling 0.3% in April, revised from down 0.4% and holding steady in March, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index.
House price changes were mixed across the nine Census divisions of the country. Prices fell 0.8% (+5.9% y/y) in the Middle Atlantic region and 0.2% (+5.2% y/y) in the East North Central region. Prices were down 0.1% (+1.4% y/y) in the South Atlantic region, 0.6% (+4.0% y/y) in the East South Central region and 0.6% (+0.6% y/y) in the Pacific regions. House price increases were logged in New England where they rose 0.3% (5.3% y/y) and in the West North Central region where they increased 0.2% (3.8% y/y). Home prices also rose 0.3% (0.9% y/y) in the West South Central region and 0.1% (1.2% y/y) in the Mountain region.
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.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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