FHFA House Price Index (HPI) Shot Higher in July, 6.5% Year-Over-Year

FHFA Revised HPI Higher for June to 1%

Washington, D.C. (PPD) — The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) shot up 1.0% nationally in July. House prices rose 6.5% from July 2019 to July 2020. FHFA also revised its previously reported 0.9% gain for June to 1.0%.

Forecasts ranged from a low of 0.3% to a high of 0.7%. The consensus forecast was calling for 0.6%.

For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly house price changes from June 2020 to July 2020 ranged from +0.6% to +7.7%. The West North Central division posted on the low end of the range while the New England division came in at +2.0%. The 12-month changes ranged from +5.4% in the West South Central division to +7.7% in both the Mountain and the East South Central divisions.

“U.S. house prices posted a strong increase in July,” said Dr. Lynn Fisher, FHFA’s Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics. “Between May and July 2020, national prices increased by over 2 percent, which represents the largest two-month price increase observed since the start of the index in 1991. The dramatic increase in prices this summer can be attributed to the historically low interest rate environment and rebounding housing demand even as the supply of homes for sale remains constrained.”

About the FHFA HMI

The FHFA HPI has measured changes in single-family home values based on data from all 50 states and over 400 American cities since the mid-1970s.

The FHFA HPI incorporates tens of millions of home sales and offers insights about house price fluctuations at the national, census division, state, metro area, county, ZIP code, and census tract levels. FHFA uses a fully transparent methodology based upon a weighted, repeat-sales statistical technique to analyze house price transaction data.