U.S. house prices rose 18.5 percent from the third quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2021 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (FHFA HPI®). House prices were up 4.2 percent compared to the second quarter of 2021. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for September was up 0.9 percent from August.
“House price appreciation reached its highest historical level in the quarterly series,” said William Doerner, Ph.D., Supervisory Economist in FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics. “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.”
Significant Findings
- Housing markets have experienced positive annual appreciation since the start of 2012.
- House prices rose in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between the third quarters of 2020 and 2021. The five states with the highest annual appreciation: 1) Idaho 35.8 percent; 2) Utah 30.3 percent; 3) Arizona 27.7 percent; 4) Montana 26.0 percent; and 5) Florida 24.8 percent. The areas showing the lowest annual appreciation: 1)District of Columbia 8.0 percent; 2) North Dakota 10.5 percent; 3) Louisiana 10.9 percent; 4) Maryland 12.5 percent; and 5) Iowa 13.0 percent.
- House prices rose in all of the top 100 largest metropolitan areas over the last four quarters. Annual price increases were greatest in Boise City, ID, where prices increased by 37.3 percent. Prices were weakest in Philadelphia, PA (MSAD), where they increased by 9.9 percent.
- Of the nine census divisions, the Mountain division recorded the strongest four-quarter appreciation, posting a 25.0 percent gain between the third quarters of 2020 and 2021 and a 5.8 percent increase in the third quarter of 2021. Annual house price appreciation was weakest in the West North Central division, where prices rose by 14.8 percent between the third quarters of 2020 and 2021.
- Trends in the Top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas are available in our interactive dashboard: https://www.fhfa.gov/DataTools/Tools/Pages/FHFA-HPI-Top-100-Metro-Area-Rankings.aspx. The first tab displays rankings while the second tab offers charts.
The FHFA HPI is the nation’s only collection of public, freely available house price indexes that measure changes in single-family home values based on data from all 50 states and over 400 American cities that extend back to the mid-1970s. The FHFA HPI incorporates tens of millions of home sales and offers insights about house price fluctuations at the national, census division, state, metro area, county, ZIP code, and census tract levels. FHFA uses a fully transparent methodology based upon a weighted, repeat-sales statistical technique to analyze house price transaction data.
FHFA releases HPI data and reports on a quarterly and monthly basis. The flagship FHFA HPI uses seasonally adjusted, purchase-only data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Additional indexes use other data including refinances, FHA mortgages, and real property records. All the indexes, including their historic values, and information about future HPI release dates are available on FHFA’s website: https://www.fhfa.gov/HPI.
Tables and graphs showing home price statistics for metropolitan areas, states, census divisions, and the U.S. are included on the following pages.Note
- The next monthly HPI report (including data through October 2021) will be released December 28, 2021, and the next quarterly HPI report (including data for the fourth quarter of 2021 and monthly data for December) will be released February 22, 2022.
- Release dates for the remainder of 2021 and all of 2022 are posted at https://www.fhfa.gov/DataTools/Downloads/Pages/House-Price-Index.aspx#ReleaseDates.
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