Print(April 22, 2009 Release)
Highlights
• The purchase-only index fell 6.5 percent in February compared to a year ago.
• The regions experiencing the largest price declines were the Pacific region (-19.1%), the Mountain region (-9.2%) and the South Atlantic region (-8.0%).
• The regions experiencing the smallest price declines or modest gains were the West South Central region (0.6%), the West North Central region (-1.6%) and the East South Central region (-2.9%).
| FHFA Purchase-Only House Price Index, % change year ago | |||
| Feb 09 | Jan 09 | Dec 08 | |
| United States | -6.5 | -6.9 | -8.8 |
| % change | 0.7 | 1.0 | -0.2 |
| New England Division | -3.0 | -2.9 | -6.8 |
| % change | 2.2 | 1.6 | 0.0 |
| Middle Atlantic Division | -4.1 | -4.5 | -5.8 |
| % change | 0.7 | 0.4 | -1.4 |
| South Atlantic Division | -8.0 | -7.9 | -12.2 |
| % change | -0.8 | 4.1 | -1.5 |
| East North Central Division | -4.1 | -2.0 | -5.5 |
| % change | -1.2 | 3.3 | 0.4 |
| West North Central Division | -1.6 | -2.1 | -3.8 |
| % change | 1.5 | 0.0 | 2.1 |
| East South Central Division | -2.9 | -1.5 | -3.7 |
| % change | -0.2 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| West South Central Division | 0.6 | -0.9 | -0.6 |
| % change | 1.9 | -0.6 | 1.1 |
| Mountain Division | -9.2 | -9.7 | -9.6 |
| % change | 0.1 | -0.3 | -0.5 |
| Pacific Division | -19.1 | -22.6 | -22.4 |
| % change | 3.8 | -2.6 | -1.3 |
Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency
Analysis
The purchase-only index provides some price information that the Case-Shiller indices do not cover. Case-Shiller covers only 20 metros, while the purchase-only index covers the entire nation. The price declines of the purchase-only index are somewhat smaller than the price declines of the Case-Shiller indices due to the fact that the Case-Shiller indices focus on 20 of the major cities across the nation of which many of them experienced the sharpest declines in home values. Although the price declines are smaller, the purchase-only index confirms the Case-Shiller and NAR price reports in that the West region (pacific) of the nation is experiencing the largest price declines.
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