Data & Trends

FHFA: House Price Index Up 1.2 Percent in February 2024; Up 7.0 Percent from Last Year

U.S. house prices rose in February, up 1.2 percent from January, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index (HPI®). House prices rose 7.0 percent from February 2023 to February 2024. The previously reported 0.1 percent price decrease in January remained unchanged. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from…

CFPB: New Published Research Finds Higher Price Complexity Leads Consumers to Pay More

As part of junk fee initiative, study suggests that consumers pay more when prices are separated into multiple fees Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a new report that suggests consumers tend to pay more for products that have more complex pricing structures. The report is based on experiments with multiple rounds of…

CFPB: New Analysis Finds 15 Million Americans Have Medical Bills on Their Credit Reports

People living in the South continue to be most likely to have medical bills on their reports The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today released research showing that 15 million Americans still have medical bills on their credit reports despite changes by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The 15 million Americans disproportionately live in the South and low-income…

HUD and Census Bureau: New Residential Sales Report for March 2024 Released

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for March 2024: New Home SalesSales of new single‐family houses in March 2024 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 693,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau…

Census Bureau: Household Pulse Survey Phase 4.0 Monthly Data Released

The U.S. Census Bureau today released new data from phase 4.0 of the experimental Household Pulse Survey (HPS). The HPS is an effort by the Census Bureau and other federal statistical agencies to measure how emergent issues are impacting U.S. households from a social and economic perspective. Topics for phase 4.0 include employment status, spending, food security, housing,…

FHFA: Housing Mission Report for 2023 Released

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its annual Housing Mission Report, describing the activities taken by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) in 2023 to promote access to financing for affordable, sustainable, and equitable housing and targeted economic development. “FHFA maintains a keen focus on…

Census Bureau: 2023 Population Estimates by Age and Sex Released

The U.S. Census Bureau today released a downloadable file containing estimates of the nation’s resident population by sex and single year of age as of July 1, 2023, which is available at www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html.  In the coming months, the Census Bureau will release additional population estimates for cities and towns, as well as population estimates by age, sex, race…

SBA: New Small Business Applications Soar to Over 17 Million since 2021

Small Business Boom Continues Amid Record Job Creation, Cooling Inflation Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, released a statement in response to new data showing that an unprecedented 17 million new business applications have been filed under the Biden-Harris…

ABA: Bank Economists Continue to Grow More Optimistic About Credit Conditions

Bank economists are growing more optimistic about the outlook for credit conditions over the next six months compared to the latter half of 2023, according to the American Bankers Association’s latest Credit Conditions Index released today. The latest summary of ABA’s Credit Conditions Index examines a suite of indices derived from the quarterly outlook for credit markets…

CFPB: Examiners Find Violations of Credit Report Accuracy Requirements, Including for Survivors of Human Trafficking

Examiners also found furnishers failed to correct false information and reported fraudulent information The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today published an edition of Supervisory Highlights to share key findings from recent examinations about continuing accuracy problems in the credit reporting system. The CFPB found consumer reporting companies failed to ensure the accuracy of credit reports, including…