St. Cloud, MN Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The St. Cloud, MN, 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 St. Cloud HPI includes data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conventional conforming home purchase loans covering all counties in the metropolitan statistical area (MSA).

As of September 2020, the St. Cloud HPI was at 177.4, up 1.1% from August and up 6% from September 2019. This is the fourth consecutive month of positive year-over-year growth and the highest level since December 2007. Home prices have now recovered 60% of the decline experienced during the housing market crash and are just 2% below the peak reached in June 2006.

The recent acceleration in home prices is being driven by strong demand from buyers and limited supply of homes for sale. Buyer demand has been fueled by historically low mortgage rates, which are making purchasing a home more affordable than renting in many markets across the country. At the same time, there has been a decrease in listings for sale as potential sellers remain hesitant to enter into what remains a very uncertain economic environment.

As a result of these trends, we are seeing bidding wars for properties that do come onto the market and homes selling quickly – often above asking price. In some markets where inventory levels are extremely low, such as Seattle and San Francisco, buyers are even waiving contingencies such as inspections in order to increase their chances of winning a bidding war against other interested parties