Housing

FHFA Home Price Index Up Less Than Expected Again in October

Paul Ausick

Published: December 22, 2016 10:35 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:30 pm

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Thursday morning that U.S. home prices rose 0.4% sequentially in October. Home prices rose 0.6% sequentially in September. Compared with October 2015, the inflation-adjusted home price has gained 6.2%.

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 consensus estimate for October called for a month-over-month increase of 0.5%. In September, economists were looking for a gain of 0.7%, compared with an actual gain of 0.6%.

Over the past 12 months, gains have been greatest in the Mountain states, up 8.3%, and least in the Mid-Atlantic states, where prices are up 3.6%. The year-over-year index rose in all nine Census Bureau divisions in October.

Home prices posted month-over-month gains in seven of nine Census Bureau divisions. Prices were down 0.6% in the East South Central division and down 0.2% in the West North Central division. Home prices gained 0.1% in the West South Central, 0.2% in the Pacific division, 0.3% in the Middle Atlantic division, 0.6% in the East North Central division, 0.7% in the South Atlantic division, 0.9% in the New England division and 1.2% in the Mountain division.

Across the United States, home prices rose 6.0% year over year from October 2014 to October 2015.

See the FHFA website for more details and charts.