Recent Updates
- US: Advance Retail Sales (Jul)
- Kyrgyz Republic: National Bank Balance Sheet (Jun), IP (Jul)
- US: CEO Confidence Survey (Q3)
- China Regional: IP Value Added, Investment in Fixed Assets (Jul)
- Azerbaijan: Retail Trade Turnover (Jul)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Starts Drop to 1.446 Mil. in July
Toal housing starts fell 9.6% m/m (-8.1% y/y) to a lower-than-expected 1.446 million...
U.S. Gasoline Prices Decline While the Cost of Crude Oil Rises
Retail gasoline prices fell to $3.94 per gallon (+24.1% y/y) last week...
ZEW Experts Still See Depressed Conditions and Harbor Weak Expectations
the current situation in the eyes of the ZEW experts strengthened in August in the U.S. and the U.K. but...
U.S. Home Builder Index Extends Downward Trend
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index declined 10.9% during August (-34.7% y/y) to 49...
U.S. Empire State Manufacturing Index Plummets in August; Lowest Since May '20
The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions plunged to -31.3 in August...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 24, 2018
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 0.6% during February following January's 0.9% advance, revised from 0.8%. The 7.2% y/y rate of increase was nearly the quickest since 2013, up from 5.2% in 2014. Over the past three months, prices have risen at an 8.0% annual rate, up from 4.4% as of July.
Around the country, prices in the Pacific (10.3%) and Mountain (9.0% y/y) regions showed the strongest rates of growth.
Slightly slower growth rates were exhibited within the South Atlantic (7.5% y/y), East North Central (6.8% y/y) and West South Central (6.4% y/y) regions of the country.
Home price appreciation in the East South Central, New England and West North Central Regions approximated 6.0% y/y, with prices in the Middle Atlantic region up a lesser 4.8% 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 also 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 %) |
Feb | Jan | Dec | Feb Y/Y | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 5.5 |
Pacific | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 10.3 | 8.8 | 8.1 | 7.8 |
Mountain | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 9.0 | 8.8 | 8.0 | 7.7 |
South Atlantic | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 6.3 |
East North Central | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 6.8 | 6.1 | 5.4 | 4.4 |
West South Central | 1.2 | -0.2 | 0.3 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 6.0 | 6.2 |
East South Central | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 5.1 | 4.7 |
New England | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 4.1 | 3.4 |
West North Central | 0.1 | 1.1 | -0.4 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 4.1 |
Middle Atlantic | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 2.6 |
|