FHFA, Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index Reported

This week the FHFA released the house price index was released November 29th and we’ll highlight some of the top points in the 78 page document. You can get your own PDF copy at http://fhfa.gov. This report is for the third quarter of 2011. Overall, the nation’s house price purchase-only index rose by 0.2%. The monthly index for September was up 0.9%. Let’s look at some of the high points:

• There were declines in 21 states and the District of Columbia.

• Of the nine census divisions tracked, the West North Central division experienced the strongest price gains in the third quarter, at +1.5%.

• Prices were weakest in the Pacific census division, where they were down 0.5%.

• FHFA’s purchase-only and all-transactions HPI (House Price Index) track average house price changes in repeat sales or refinancing on the same single-family properties. It is based on more than 6 million repeat sales transactions.

• The August to September results by census division:

• Pacific +0.8%
• Mountain +0.8%
• West North Central +2.5%
• West South Central 0.0%
• East North Central +1.5%
• East South Central (0.2%)
• New England +0.7%
• Middle Atlantic +0.5%
• South Atlantic +1.3%

• The September 2011 index is roughly the same as the March 2004 level.

• The U.S. housing bust of the last five years has coincided with a dramatic boom in commodities prices. Most notably, the prices of oil and petroleum products have risen sharply over that timeframe.

• Top five states year-over-year price changes:
• North Dakota +5.40%
• Wyoming +2.94%
• Iowa +1.27%
• Nebraska +0.55%
• South Dakota (0.08%)
• Bottom five year-over-year performers:
• Georgia (8.44%)
• Idaho (8.59%)
• Washington (8.67%)
• Arizona (11.99%)
• Nevada (12.33%)

There is a huge amount of information going all the way back to 1991 in this report. You can get them emailed to you monthly.