Billings, MT Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Billings, MT, 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 Billings HPI includes data from Ada and Canyon counties.

As of December 2020, the Billings HPI was at 246.4, up from 244.8 in November 2020 and up from 235.7 in December 2019. This represents a year-over-year increase of 3.9 percent and a month-over-month increase of 0.6 percent (not seasonally adjusted).

The Billings HPI peaked in June 2006 at 282.0 and bottomed out in May 2009 at 193.3, representing a decline of 31 percent peak to trough. From its trough in May 2009, the index has recovered by 28 percent as of December 2020 (not seasonally adjusted).

Home equity is the portion of a home's value that is owned outright by the homeowner rather than being financed through a mortgage or other loan products. Home prices are an important factor in determining home equity because they affect how much of the home's value is financed through loans versus owned outright by the homeowner. In general, as home prices rise so does home equity because homeowners are building more equity with each mortgage payment made while also seeing their overall loan balance decrease due to appreciation in the value of their property. However, there can be periods where home prices fall but homeowners continue to build equity due to continued payments on their mortgage loan balance; this was seen during the housing market crash when many homeowners were "underwater" on their mortgages but continued making payments and eventually regained positive equity positions as values recovered over time