U.S. FHFA House Prices Rebound a Marginal 0.1% in September
Summary
- FHFA HPI +0.1% m/m in September following two straight monthly declines.
- House prices rebound m/m in six of nine census divisions; house prices fall in New England, the Mountain region, and the West South Central region.
U.S. house prices ticked up 0.1% m/m in September after unrevised drops of 0.7% in August and 0.6% in July, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index. The September reading was the first monthly increase since June's 0.1%. During the June 2020 to May 2022 period, house prices had risen between 0.95% (the lowest in September 2021) and 1.9% (the highest in February 2022). The year-on-year rate of increase eased to 11.0% in September, the smallest since October 2020, from 12.0% in August. In Q3'22, house prices increased 0.05% q/q after a 3.7% Q2 gain. The y/y rate decelerated to 12.4% in Q3, the lowest pace since Q4'20, from 17.7% in Q2.
The month-on-month increase in house prices was evident with prices rising in September in six of the nine census divisions: East South Central (+1.0%), East North Central (+0.4%), Middle Atlantic (+0.3%), Pacific (+0.2%), South Atlantic (+0.1%), and West North Central (+0.1%). In contrast, house prices in New England fell back 1.0% m/m in September, the third monthly decline in four months. House prices in the Mountain region slid 0.8% m/m, the fourth straight monthly slide. House prices in the West South Central region fell 0.3% m/m, the third consecutive monthly fall.
Year-on-year house prices continued to rise in September, but the pace of advance decelerated in eight of the nine census divisions. Among the eight census divisions showing deceleration, the slowest annual increase was posted by the Pacific region at 7.1% in September (vs. 7.5% in August) while the South Atlantic region reported the largest annual rise at 15.2% in September (vs. 16.2% in August). The East South Central region was an exception with its y/y rate virtually unchanged at 14.0%.
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.
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
