Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) is a weighted, repeat-sales index measuring average price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same properties. The index was created to provide a more timely and accurate measure of house price trends than other existing measures.

The FHFA HPI covers single-family homes with mortgages owned or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The index includes all home sales regardless of whether they are arms-length transactions between buyers and sellers or transactions between related parties. The index also captures refinance activity when homeowners refinance their existing mortgage into a new mortgage of the same type (e.g., 30-year fixed rate).

The Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ HPI value for 2020Q1 was 171.44, up 1.14% from 2019Q4 and up 6.68% from 2020Q1 last year. This increase marks the fourth consecutive quarter of positive annual growth in the Lake Havasu City-Kingman area HPI value since 2016Q3 (-0.36%).

Over the past year, home prices in the Lake Havasu City-Kingman area have increased at a faster pace than both the US national average and Arizona state average HPI values. The annual growth rate in 2020Q1 for both the US and Arizona was 5.51% and 4.72%, respectively; while the annual growth rate in 2020Q1 for Lake Havasu City-Kingman was 6.68%.

One potential reason why home prices in Lake Havasu City have been outpacing those in other areas is due to strong demand from retirees looking for second homes or investment properties in warm weather locations like Arizona. According to Realtor Mag, "retirees are increasingly looking for second homes that can serve as both a place to escape during cold winters and an investment property."

In addition, job growth in Mohave County - which includes Lake Havasu City - has been strong recently, increasing by 3% from 2018 to 2019 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is higher than both the national job growth rate of 1.6% over that same time period as well as Arizona's job growth rate of 2%. A strong local economy can help support higher home prices by creating more demand from potential buyers who feel confident about their future income prospects