Regional HPI Summary
Change in FHFA US Combined and Census Division House Price Indexes
(Seaonally Adjusted, Purchase-Only Index, 2013Q1)
| Region | Rank | 1 Quarter | 1 Year | 5 Years | Since 1991Q1 |
| USA |
|
1.95 |
6.72 |
-9.15 |
94.05 |
| Pacific |
1 |
4.37 |
14.78 |
-15.58 |
96.15 |
| Mountain |
2 |
2.75 |
14.02 |
-15.41 |
132.98 |
| South Atlantic |
3 |
2.19 |
7.02 |
-15.17 |
90.68 |
| West South Central |
4 |
1.43 |
5.97 |
5.68 |
108.25 |
| East North Central |
5 |
1.66 |
4.22 |
-9.01 |
67.00 |
| East South Central |
6 |
1.62 |
4.11 |
-4.86 |
87.98 |
| West North Central |
7 |
0.69 |
3.92 |
-3.49 |
102.15 |
| New England |
8 |
1.07 |
2.30 |
-9.07 |
98.65 |
| Middle Atlantic |
9 |
0.31 |
1.37 |
-8.43 |
99.91 |
* Note: Rankings based on annual percentage change.
** Note: United States figures based on weighted division average.
I copied this graph from the FHFA website. Utah is part of the Mountain Region. This graph shows true appreciation, not average sale price, which can be a meaningless statistic. While sale price in the Mountain Region has increased 14% in one year, it is still 15.5% below 5 years ago. And even though mortgage rates have also risen since they bottomed out, they are still lower today than 5 years ago (4.37% today vs 6.43% in 2008).
This means that today, a home is 35% more affordable than it was in 2008.
Home prices and interest rates are both predicted to rise. If you are thinking of moving up or purchasing a second home, the time to act is today.