FHFA House Price Index Lower Than Expected, Still Strong

The FHFA house price index did come in at a lower-than-expected 0.3 percent gain in December but readings are nevertheless pointing to strength. Year-on-year appreciation is at 6.5 percent with November's rate revised 2 tenths higher to 6.7 percent.

In slight contrast to the regional breakdown in the Case-Shiller report, the West is showing less exceptional strength in FHFA's data. The Mountain and Pacific regions are out front, at respective year-on-year gains of 9.0 and 8.6 percent, but the South Atlantic is very solid at 6.7 percent followed by the West South Central at 6.6 percent. Bringing up the rear but not by much is the West North Central at a still solid gain of 4.6 percent.

Home prices proved to be one of the major features of the 2017 economy and the outlook for 2018 is little different.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
The FHFA house price index, like Case-Shiller, has been showing solid strength. Forecasters see the index rising 0.5 percent in December.