Bellingham, WA Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Bellingham, WA, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) is a weighted, repeat-sales index that measures average price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same properties. The index covers single-family homes and condominiums. The HPI value for a particular geographic area is the weighted sum of the prices of all transactions in that area during a given period, divided by the number of transactions.

The HPI for Bellingham was 154.1 in 2019Q2, up 2.3% from 151.4 in 2018Q2. This increase represents an acceleration from the 1.6% year-over-year increase seen in 2018Q2 and marks the fourth consecutive quarter of positive annual growth for this index value. Home prices have now recovered to their pre-recession peak levels set back in 2007Q3 and are currently at all-time highs not seen since the early 2000s housing boom period.

Looking at home equity, this metric has also shown strong growth over recent years in Bellingham as well as across Washington state as a whole. In 2019Q2, home equity values statewide were up 11% from the previous year to an average of $145,000 per household. This increase was driven by both rising home prices and also declining mortgage debt levels thanks to widespread refinancing activity during periods of low interest rates. For Bellingham specifically, home equity values were up 12% year-over-year to an average of $155,000 per household in 2019Q2 – meaning that on average homeowners had built up over $15,000 in additional equity compared to just one year prior.