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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Housing Price Index report, covering single-family homes, increased only 0.3% in September, missing expectations of a 0.6% rise. However, still very strong appreciation level with a 6.3% annual increase. For only the second time since 2006, the FHFA announced it will be increasing the conforming loan limits for Fannie and Freddie from $424.1K to $453.1 for next year. Why? Home prices are on the rise and the FHFA noted such an increase as necessary.
The Case-Shiller Home Price Index report, tracking changes in residential Real Estate value in all nine U.S. census divisions, showed a 6.2% annual gain in September. This is the highest annual increase in over 3 years, since June 2014. All top 20 U.S. cities saw an annual increase in home price. Experts expect home prices will continue to increase; we can most certainly agree with that. Seattle showed a whopping 12.9% annual home price gain.
Florida looks to be recovering from Hurricane Irma, recording increases in sales, median prices, new listings, and new pending sales in October. Home purchases may have stalled in September but many of those sales closed the following month. While it’s expected areas that were hit the hardest will take some time to recover, it’s also “not uncommon for Florida to see a quick rebound in sales of existing homes the month after a hurricane.” Unfortunately, according to Black Knight Financial Services, Florida was one of only two states—Texas of course being the other—that saw an increase in delinquencies in October.