House Price Index is a monthly and a quarterly released index by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and measures the average price changes in single-family houses. The housing market is a very important sector for the US economy, and higher readings show a robust housing market but also inflationary pressures. This is positive for the US Dollar and the US economy. There is a revision of the index each quarter. Its calculation is based on the home sales prices based on information from mortgages related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The United States Housing Price Index
The United States Housing Price Index latest reading for the month of April 2017 was 0.7%, higher than the forecast estimate of 0.5%, and as a result there was an upward revision due to the previous reported 0.6% increase in March. On a yearly basis the change in house prices from April 2016 to April 2017 was up 6.8%. The United States Housing Price Index has an average of 0.29% for the period of years 1991-2017. The Index had an all-time high reading of 1.20% in the January of 2000, and an all-time low price of -1.80% in November of 2008. In January of 1991 the index has a base of 100, while the latest reading in April of 2017 was 248.2 and there are 9 total geographical divisions, which were all up on a yearly basis. This indicates a healthy US housing market, with strong demand and reflecting inflationary pressures.
