Housing Inflation is Not What You Think It Is
By
Mark Fleming on June 9, 2021
One of the most closely watched indicators of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), jumped 4.2 percent year over year this April. This is a faster pace than most economists anticipated, and was a result of base effects, combined with the numerous supply chain bottlenecks driving up prices as the economy reopens. One of the most important ...
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Why Housing Affordability Sank for the First Time in Over Two Years
By
Mark Fleming on May 24, 2021
Housing affordability on a year-over-year basis declined in March for the first time since January 2019, ending a more than two-year streak of rising affordability. The long run of increasing affordability snapped, even as two of the three key drivers of the Real House Price Index (RHPI), household income and mortgage rates, swung in favor of ...
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Will Rising Equity Levels Mean More Homeowners Will List Their Homes for Sale?
By
Mark Fleming on April 27, 2021
The three components of the Real House Price Index (RHPI) are household income, mortgage rates and a nominal house price index. The RHPI adjusts nominal house prices according to changes in income and interest rates, which together make up consumer house-buying power. When incomes rise, house-buying power rises as well. However, when mortgage ...
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Why Affordability Improved Amid Soaring House Prices
By
Mark Fleming on March 31, 2021
Soaring nominal house prices dominate recent headlines and for good reason. It is true that nominal house prices are the highest they have ever been, over 22 percent higher than the housing boom peak in 2006, according to the First American Data & Analytics House Price Index. The acceleration in the pace of annual house price growth began in ...
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House Prices Are Hot, But Is Housing Overvalued?
By
Mark Fleming on February 23, 2021
Punxsutawney Phil may have signaled six more weeks of winter, but in housing, it looks like spring (home buying) has already arrived. Typically, the housing market winds down a bit in the winter, but America’s housing market is booming, even in the colder months. The First American Data & Analytics nominal house price index indicates ...
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Why the Housing Market Can Thrive if a New Rising-Rate Era Begins
By
Mark Fleming on January 26, 2021
Even though nominal house prices continued to surge, affordability improved in November as two of the three key drivers of the Real House Price Index (RHPI), household income and mortgage rates, swung in favor of increased affordability. Real house prices declined by 6.2 percent relative to one year ago, thanks to the benefit of increased buying ...
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