Uncategorized October 24, 2016

Latest FHFA Home Price Index update

We’ve talked about the FHFA HPI index before. To me, this is the best home values index to watch as it compares the value of the same home as the value changes over time as reported in sale and refinance appraisals, comparing apples to apples. Here are some significant findings from the most recent HPI report which covers the Second Quarter of 2016.

  • “Although the appreciation rate for the second quarter was of similar magnitude to what we’ve been seeing for several years now, a close look at the month-over-month price changes during the quarter reveals a potentially significant market shift,” said FHFA Supervisory Economist Andrew Leventis. “Our monthly price index indicates that in each of the three months of the quarter, the increase was only 0.2 percent. This is a much more modest pace of appreciation than we’ve seen in some time and most likely reflects accumulated pressures from significantly reduced home affordability,” Leventis said.
  • Home prices rose in every state except Vermont between the second quarter of 2015 and the second quarter of 2016. The top five states in annual appreciation were: 1) Oregon 11.7 percent; 2) Washington 10.3 percent; 3) Colorado 10.2 percent; 4) Florida 10.0 percent; and 5) Nevada 9.6 percent.
  • Among the 100 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., annual price increases were greatest in North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL, where prices increased by 15.7 percent. Prices were weakest in Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT, where they fell 3.3 percent.
  • Of the nine census divisions, the Mountain division experienced the strongest increase in the second quarter, posting a 1.9 percent quarterly increase and an 8.1 percent increase since the second quarter of last year. House price appreciation was weakest in the Middle Atlantic division, where prices rose 0.6 percent from the last quarter.
  • Boulder is the top MSA in the country when the MSA’s are ranked by the highest rates of annual appreciation as of the second quarter of 2016. Aside from Boulder, Colorado also claimed three more of the top 10 spots highlighted in yellow below. The Boulder MSA also remains the top MSA in the country for appreciation since the first quarter of 1991 while the Denver MSA is #2 and the Ft. Collins MSA is #7.

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Here’s a look at the FHFA annual appreciation numbers over time for the US, Colorado, the Denver MSA and the Boulder MSA.  The Denver MSA includes all of Metro Denver except for Boulder County.  The Boulder MSA includes all of Boulder County.

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And from FHFA, price appreciation across the entire US.

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