Weekly Real Estate News
U.S. single-family home prices continued to rise in the third quarter, with Fannie Mae’s national index showing a 3.4% increase from a year earlier and a pickup in quarterly growth.
The Fannie Mae Home Price Index rose 0.9% from the second quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis for the quarter ending Sept. 30. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, prices increased 0.3% quarter over quarter and 3.4% year over year.
The index is a repeat-transaction measure covering single-family properties across the United States and excludes condominiums. Fannie Mae builds the national measure by aggregating county-level data.
Price growth remains positive despite affordability pressure
The latest reading adds another data point to a housing market in which high mortgage rates have weakened demand without producing a broad national decline in home values. That tension matters for buyers and originators: affordability can deteriorate even when sales slow if financing costs remain high while prices continue to advance.
The third-quarter result also follows Fannie Mae’s second-quarter HPI reading, which showed 3.2% annual growth and 0.5% seasonally adjusted quarterly growth. The new data therefore point to somewhat faster national appreciation during Q3 rather than a further deceleration.
Other price measures are sending a more uneven regional signal. WRE News reported that Cotality’s August data showed 31 of the 100 largest metros with negative three-month price momentum, even as national prices remained above year-earlier levels. The methodologies differ, but together the reports show why the national headline can mask substantial local divergence.
What the index does—and does not—show
Fannie Mae’s HPI is designed to track changes in the value of the same properties over time. It is not a measure of the median price of homes sold in a quarter, and it does not include condos. Those distinctions matter when comparing it with other national housing-price reports.
For housing professionals, the Q3 reading reinforces a difficult operating backdrop: borrowers are confronting mortgage rates near multi-year highs while home values nationally remain resilient. That combination keeps monthly payments elevated and limits the relief buyers might otherwise receive from softer demand.
