Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL, 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 covers single-family homes and condominiums. The Pensacola HPI is calculated using data from home sales transactions provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

As of December 2020, the Pensacola HPI was at 172.6, up from 171.8 in November 2020 and up from 168.1 in December 2019. This represents an annualized increase of 2.3 percent over the past 12 months and a monthly increase of 0.5 percent over the past month.

The Pensacola HPI peaked at 185 in June 2006 and then declined steadily until it reached a trough of 133 in March 2011. Since then, the index has been slowly rising, but has yet to reach its previous peak value.

Home prices in Pensacola have been rising faster than the national average over the past year or so. In December 2020, the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Existing Home Sales Report showed that the median existing home price for all housing types was $309,200, up 11 percent from December 2019 ($278,900). In contrast, according to the FHFA HPI data mentioned above, prices in Pensacola were up 2.3 percent over the same time period (December 2019 to December 2020).

There are several possible explanations for why home prices might be rising more quickly in Pensacola than elsewhere in the country:

* Low interest rates make borrowing money to buy a home cheaper than it has been in years;

* A limited supply of homes for sale relative to buyer demand is driving up prices;

* Investors are buying properties to rent out as single-family homes;

* People are moving from higher-priced markets to more affordable markets like Pensacola due to job losses or other economic factors;

* The area’s population is growing as people retire here or move here for other reasons;

* And finally, many people now view their homes as safe investments since stock market volatility has made investing in stocks much riskier than it used to be.