The Fannie Mae Home Price Index (FNM-HPI) accelerated in Q1 2022 to its fastest annual pace in the 47-year history of the index, measuring 20% year over year, non-seasonally-adjusted, up from the 19.1% annual rate recorded in Q4 2021. On a quarterly basis, home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 4.8% in Q1 2022.
“We’re pleased to begin sharing the Fannie Mae Home Price Index with external audiences,” says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president and chief economist. “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.”
“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,” Duncan continues. “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. The FNM-HPI is 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.