Home Price Index Gains More Than Expected

Housing

Published: January 22, 2015 9:45 am

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 11:04 pm

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported this morning that U.S. home prices rose 0.8% month-over-month in November. Compared with November 2013, the house price index has gained 5.3%. The index increase reported for October was revised downward from 0.6% to a new level of 0.4%.

The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses with mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The index is 4.5% below its April 2007 peak and is roughly equivalent to its level in October 2005.

For the past 12 months, gains have been greatest in the Pacific states (7.5%) and the least in the New England states (1.6%). The year-over-year index rose in all nine Census Bureau divisions.

The November index value has reached an 18-month high of 216.9.

The consensus estimate for November called for an increase in a range of 0.2% to 0.6%.

Home prices posted month-over-month gains in eight Census Bureau divisions and a decline in just one, New England.

Price increases are slowing down, according to FHFA data. The 12-month price change in November 2013 equaled a gain of 7.5%, compared with a gain of 5.3% in the 12 months to November 2014. Only two of the nine Census Bureau divisions posted larger 12-month gains in November 2014 than in the prior November: the west south central (which includes Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana) and the east south central (including Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama).

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