Federal Housing Finance Agency Print
Home / About FHFA / Reports / U.S. House Price Index Report - 1Q2016 / March
House Price Index

U.S. House Price Index Report - 1Q2016 / March

Published: 5/25/2016

U.S. house prices rose 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI).  This is the nineteenth consecutive quarterly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index.  FHFA's seasonally adjusted monthly index for March was up 0.7 percent from February.  The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA has produced a video of highlights for this quarter.

​While the purchase-only HPI rose 5.7 percent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, prices of other goods and services were nearly unchanged.  The inflation-adjusted price of homes thus rose approximately 5.6 percent over the latest year.

Significant Findings

  • Home prices rose in every state between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.  The top five states in annual appreciation were:  1) Oregon 11.8 percent; 2) Florida 11.2 percent; 3) Washington 10.9 percent; 4) Nevada 9.4 percent; and 5) Colorado 9.0 percent.

  • Among the 100 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., annual price increases were greatest in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, FL (MSAD), where prices increased by 16.7 percent.  Prices were weakest in El Paso, TX, where they fell 2.8 percent.

  • Of the nine census divisions, the Pacific division experienced the strongest increase in the first quarter, posting a 1.9 percent quarterly increase and an 8.1 percent increase since the first quarter of last year.  House price appreciation was weakest in the Middle Atlantic division, where prices rose 0.6 percent from the last quarter. 

Related News Release

Attachments:
© 2024 Federal Housing Finance Agency