The Fair Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (FHFA HPI®) rose 1.7 percent in May, sending the annual price increase to 18 percent. The previously reported 1.8 percent price change for April 2021 was unrevised.
“House prices continued their record-setting growth into May,” said Dr. Lynn Fisher, FHFA’s Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics. “This trend will likely continue around the country as busy summer homebuying months maintain the pressure being felt in already tight housing markets.”
The increase in home prices was not evenly distributed across the country. Among the nine census divisions, the Pacific enjoyed the highest monthly price spike (2.4 percent), while prices rose least in the Middle Atlantic division (1 percent). The 12-month changes ranged from +15.4 percent in the West South Central division to +23.2 percent in the Mountain division.
The FHFA number tracks the findings of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, reporting a 16.6 percent annual gain in May, up from 14.8 percent in the previous month.Before seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a 2.1% month-over-month increase in May.
Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities tracked by the index.
FHFA will release its next HPI report on August 31, 2021 with data for the second quarter of 2021 and monthly data through June 2021.