Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) house price index (HPI) is a weighted, repeat-sales index measuring average price changes in single-family houses with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The HPI covers the entire United States and is provided quarterly. The most recent data available is from the first quarter of 2020.

In the first quarter of 2020, the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA HPI was up 2.6% from the fourth quarter of 2019 and up 5.1% from a year ago. Home prices in the area have been on an upward trend since bottoming out in early 2012 and have now recovered to their pre-recession peak levels set in late 2005/early 2006. Despite this strong overall recovery, there are still pockets of weakness within the market as some homeowners remain underwater on their mortgages while others are struggling to sell their homes for a profit.

The rise in home prices has been driven by a number of factors including low interest rates, strong job growth, and limited supply of homes for sale relative to buyer demand. The combination of these factors has resulted in healthy competition among buyers and bidding wars for properties that are priced attractively relative to similar homes nearby. This has put upward pressure on prices and caused some buyers to be priced out of the market altogether.

As we enter into 2020, it will be interesting to see how home prices in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater fare given that we are now in an election year and economic uncertainty typically increases during this time period. Additionally, mortgage rates are expected to begin rising later this year which could put a damper on price growth as well. Overall though, it seems likely that home prices will continue to trend upwards in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater over the next 12 months barring any major unforeseen economic or political events