Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) announced today the publication of the Fannie Mae Home Price Index (FNM-HPI), a national, repeat-transaction home price index measuring the average, quarterly price change for all single-family properties in the United States, excluding condos. The FNM-HPI accelerated in Q1 2022 to its fastest annual pace in the 47-year history of the index, measuring 20.0 percent year over year, non-seasonally adjusted, up from the 19.1 percent annual rate recorded in Q4 2021. On a quarterly basis, home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent in Q1 2022.
“We’re pleased to begin sharing the Fannie Mae Home Price Index with external audiences. We have long used this index within the company, including as part of our quarterly financial disclosures, and we believe it will be a highly accurate, timely indicator for measuring home price growth for both economists and housing industry stakeholders alike,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “After decelerating toward the end of 2021, the FNM-HPI sped up in the first quarter due to continued strong homebuying demand and a lack of inventory. We believe recent homebuying demand was augmented by many homebuyers pulling forward their home purchase plans in anticipation of rising mortgage rates. Now, with rates having sharply risen since the start of the year – and some of that homebuying demand now met – we expect price growth to begin cooling as the year progresses.”
The FNM-HPI is produced by aggregating county-level data to create both seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted national indices that are representative of the whole country and designed to serve as indicators of general single-family home price trends. Beginning today, the FNM-HPI will be publicly available at the national level as a quarterly series with a start date of Q1 1975 and extending to the most recent quarter, Q1 2022. Fannie Mae plans to publish the FNM-HPI approximately mid-month during the first month of each new quarter.
