FHFA Home Price Appreciation At Respectable Level

Home-price appreciation isn't booming but is respectable, up 0.5 percent in FHFA's October report for a year-on-year rate of plus 6.1 percent. Prices are strongest out West, up a year-on-year 7.9 percent in the report's Pacific region and up 8.9 percent in the Mountain region. Lagging are New England, up 2.9 percent, with the Mid-Atlantic at plus 3.1 percent. In context of inflation which is low of course, the 6 percent rate for home prices, though moderate, is a positive factor helping to reflate the economy. Watch next week for Case-Shiller price data which had been showing less traction than FHFA before popping up in the prior report.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
Home-price appreciation, as measured by the FHFA house price index, is expected to ease in October, to a consensus plus 0.4 percent vs an outsized plus 0.8 percent in September. Home price appreciation has been soft but is still a positive factor for household wealth.