FHFA report examines third quarter house prices

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) determined third-quarter domestic house prices increased 18.5 percent from the same time frame from 2020 to 2021.

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Additionally, the analysis showed that house prices increased 4.2 percent compared to the second quarter of 2021, while FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for September rose 0.9 percent from August.

“House price appreciation reached its highest historical level in the quarterly series,” William Doerner, supervisory economist in FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics, said. “Compared to a year ago, annual gains have increased in every state and metro area. Real estate prices have risen exceptionally fast, but market momentum peaked in July as month-over-month gains have moderated.”

Other report findings, per the FHFA, include house prices increased in each state and the District of Columbia between the third quarters of 2020 and 2021; house prices increased in each of the top 100 largest metropolitan areas over the last four quarters; and the Mountain division reflected the strongest four-quarter appreciation with a 25 percent gain between the third quarters of 2020 and 2021 and a 5.8 percent rise in the third quarter of 2021.

Per the FHFA, the HPI considers millions of home sales and offers insights regarding house price fluctuations at the national, census division, state, metro area, county, ZIP code, and census tract levels.