Las Cruces, NM Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Las Cruces, NM, 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 was created in order to be a more timely measure of home price changes than other indices because it relies on data from mortgage transactions.

As of December 2020, the Las Cruces HPI was at 205.6, up from 202.7 in November 2020 and up from 190.8 in December 2019. This represents a year-over-year increase of 7% and a month-over-month increase of 1%. The all-transactions house price index for the United States was at 258.9 in December 2020, up from 257.5 in November 2020 and up from 241.7 in December 2019—a year-over-year increase of 7% and a month-over-month increase of 0%.

In Las Cruces, the median sales price for existing homes was $247,500 in December 2020, an increase of 8% from $229,000 in December 2019. The median sales price for new homes was $315,000 in December 2020—an increase of 11% from $283,000 one year earlier. In contrast to other parts of the country where home prices have been increasing rapidly over the past few years due to strong demand and limited supply (such as Seattle), home prices in Las Cruces have been relatively stable until recently when they started to accelerate along with the rest of the country.

The FHFA HPI is based on data collected by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on single-family homes with conventional mortgages that were sold or refinanced between January 2000 and present day—meaning that it does not include cash sales or transactions involving nonconventional mortgages such as those backed by the Veterans Administration or Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®, mortgage rates for 30-year fixed rate loans averaged 3.03% for the week ending January 14th 2021—up slightly from 3.01% last week but still near record lows set earlier this month; 15-year fixed rate loans averaged 2.56%; 5/1 adjustable rate loans averaged 2.86%.

Home equity is calculated as the difference between your home’s appraised value and your outstanding mortgage balance(s). According to CoreLogic’s Equity Report released last quarter (Q3 2020), U.S homeowners with mortgages (approximately 63%) saw their equity increase by an average of $16,300 over Q2 2020 while those without mortgages experienced an average gain of $11,400 during that same time period—resulting in a total national equity gain of nearly $800 billion dollars since Q2 2020! In Q3 2020 alone there were approximately 938 thousand “tappable” properties with positive equity nationwide which is an all time high since CoreLogic began tracking this data back in 2011; “tappable equity” refers to available homeowner equity that can be used to take out additional loans through HELOCs or cash out refinances without incurring any new debt on their primary residence(s).

Home prices are continuing to rise across much of the country but especially so here locally in Las Cruces where we are seeing increases both year over year as well as month over month; according to FHFA’s most recent House Price Index report our city has experienced some pretty significant growth since this time last year with prices rising nearly 7%. With interest rates still near historic lows now might be a good time for those considering selling their home(s) to do so while buyers may want to act sooner rather than later before prices continue climbing even higher; either way it looks like it’s going to be another busy spring market here locally!