Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) is a weighted, repeat-sales index measuring average price changes in single-family houses in the Providence-Warwick metropolitan area. The HPI is a broad measure of the movement of single-family house prices and covers both new and existing houses. The HPI is constructed using data from Fannie Mae's Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI) and Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®).

The Providence HPI value for September 2020 was 246.811, up 0.7 percent from August 2020 and up 6.0 percent from September 2019. The September 2020 increase marks the fourth consecutive monthly increase in the index and brings the index to its highest level since December 2005.

On a year-over-year basis, home prices in the Providence metro area have increased for 43 consecutive months, with gains averaging 5.5 percent over that period. The last time home prices declined on a year-over-year basis was February 2016 (-0.2 percent).

The all transactions house price index for the United States was up 6.3 percent in September 2020 compared to September 2019 while the FHFA purchase only house price index was up 7.1 percent over that same period indicating that home prices are rising at a slightly faster pace for properties purchased with financing than for all properties sales including cash sales In general, when investors purchase properties without obtaining financing, they are more likely to be sensitive to changes in market conditions since they do not have the benefit of leverage provided by a mortgage loan."