Merced, CA Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Merced, CA, 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.

The HPI for Merced County is currently at 245.8, which is up 1.1% from last quarter and up 5.2% from last year. Home prices in Merced have been steadily increasing since bottoming out in early 2012 and are now back to levels last seen in mid-2008. The strong appreciation over the past few years has been driven by strong demand for housing as well as limited supply of homes for sale.

As of the end of 2017, the median home value in Merced was $247,700, up 11.4% from 2016. This is higher than the national median home value of $205,000 and also higher than the California median home value of $549,600. The median list price per square foot in Merced is $165, which is lower than the California average of $294 and also lower than the national average of $152.

The reason why home values have increased so much faster than incomes is because there has been an influx of people moving to Merced due to the high cost of living in other parts of California such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. The population growth has led to an increase in demand for housing which has driven up prices. Another factor that has contributed to rising prices is limited supply due to a lack of new construction activity during the recessionary period followed by a slow recovery.

As we can see from the data, home values have recovered significantly since bottoming out during the Great Recession but are still below pre-recession levels when adjusted for inflation . Despite this , prices have continued to rise steadily over the past few years as demand remains strong while supply remains tight . It will be interesting to see how long this trend continues given that interest rates are expected to rise and affordability could become an issue for some buyers .