Lake Charles, LA Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

In the Lake Charles, LA, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) house price index (HPI), home equity is calculated as the difference between the property's value and the outstanding balance of all liens on the property. Home prices are measured by taking the weighted-average sales price of properties sold in a given month.

The HPI for Lake Charles peaked in April 2006 at 244.04 and then declined steadily until bottoming out in December 2011 at 131.51. Since then, home prices have been on the rise again, reaching 168.16 in December 2016. However, they remain well below their pre-recession levels.

The amount of home equity has followed a similar pattern to home prices, declining sharply during the recession and then slowly recovering since 2011. As of December 2016, homeowners in Lake Charles had an average of $62,716 in equity, which is still far below the peak of $145,964 reached in April 2006.

The combination of falling home prices and rising mortgage debt has left many homeowners "underwater" on their mortgages, owing more than their homes are worth. In Lake Charles, 11% of homeowners were underwater as of December 2016, down from a peak of 29% in September 2009 but still higher than the national average of 8%.