From the FHFA this morning: “U.S. house prices rose 6.5 percent between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (FHFA HPI®). House prices were up 1.5 percent compared to the third quarter

This morning, Case-Shiller reported home prices increased 5.5% in 2023. “Looking back at the year, 2023 appears to have exceeded average annual home price gains over the past 35 years. With trend growth at the national level of 4.7%, a 5.5% return demonstrates solid, steady

Here are the M-O-M shift in home prices throughout 2023 from both Case-Shiller and FHFA…

All 20 Metros covered by Case-Shiller showed Y-O-Y home price gains in 2023.

In 2023, home prices did not face the Armageddon that many had predicted. Actually, they did better than the 40+ year average appreciation of ~4.5%.

What happened to home prices in 2023? What’s about to happen to home prices in 2024? I’ll answer both those questions in depth this Monday, March 4th. Hope to see you there…BTW, it’s FREE!!

Homeownership remains a great long term wealth builder.

Should we be surprised that sales contracts signed in January, as rates were on the rise, retreated a bit? Uh, no. Rising rates hit affordability AND discourage sellers from selling. #FirstAmEcon

I will also be sharing the “estimated performance” of home prices over the next 5 years and what it could mean to a homeowner’s net worth.

Regarding home prices, their “estimated performance”* as reported by the Home Price Expectation Survey this morning was revised UPWARD for each of the next four years. *@NewsLambert 😉

A state-by-state breakdown of the recent FHFA Home Price Index.

When someone says home values “always” go up and down, let them know that…over the last 43 years…that’s not true. As everyone knows, home prices depreciated during the Great Financial Crisis. They appreciated the other 39 years.

The home price forecasts for 2024 have been adjusted UPWARD from forecasts just three months ago by these entities. To them, house values will continue to be resilient in this new year.

Please heed Daniel’s advice…

Regarding future home price appreciation, this is from the Home Price Expectation Survey (a survey of a nationwide panel of over one hundred economists, real estate experts and investment & market strategists) released a few days ago…

People ask me why I am so obsessed with showing that housing values in this country are stable. The reason? This graph shows that…right now…22% of Americans still believe home values will depreciate over the next 12 months. This is ~double the pre-pandemic percentage. That

2 Thessalonians 3:13 “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”

We must draw upon our “sisu” at times like this…