FHFA Price Index, Case Shiller Price Index

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses both the FHFA price index and the Case Shiller price index.

• Two separate data sources today show that house prices continue to rise, confirming the trend shown in NAR data.
• Compared to July one year ago, home prices were up 3.7 percent according to FHFA data. Case Shiller data showed annual gains of 0.6 and 1.2 percent for July in their 10- and 20-city composite indices, respectively. NAR data showed price gains for the same period, and newer NAR August data, released last week, show that home prices continue to increase.
• FHFA data show 6 consecutive months of year-over-year home price gains while this is the 2nd month of such gains as measured by Case Shiller’s data. In July, NAR showed 5 consecutive months of annual home price gains; August data marked the 6th month.
• Home price gains are wide-spread geographically. Only 4 of 20 Case Shiller cities showed price declines compared to July 2011. All 20 Case Shiller metros showed gains from June 2012 to July 2012. FHFA regional data show that 7 of 9 Census regions had home price growth from July 2011 to July 2012, and 6 of 9 regions had price growth for the month.
• Home price gains are also incredibly strong in recent months. Using Case Shiller monthly price gains, 18 of 20 metro areas would show double-digit price gains if July’s growth rates are sustained. June’s growth rates were such that all 20 metros would see double-digit gains if they were sustained for one year.