Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA, 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 in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan statistical area.

The FHFA HPI for Waterloo-Cedar Falls was 154.096 in the fourth quarter of 2019, up 0.8 percent from the third quarter and up 2.2 percent from a year earlier. The fourth quarter 2019 increase was driven by a 0.7 percent increase in prices for non-distressed properties and a 1.1 percent increase in prices for distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales).

On a year-over-year basis, prices for non-distressed properties were up 2.3 percent while prices for distressed properties were up 1.4 percent. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls HPI is now at its highest level since the fourth quarter of 2007, when it was 154.526..

As of the fourth quarter of 2019, the median home equity in America was $164,600, an all time high. Home equity is calculated as the difference between a home's appraised value and its outstanding mortgage balance(s). In other words, it's the portion of your property that you own outright—or have "equity" in—and can use as collateral if you need to borrow money or take out a home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC).

In order to get an accurate picture of how much homeowners across America have been gaining in home equity wealth over time, one must look at both average and median values because averages can be skewed by outliers at either end of the spectrum—like very expensive homes or those with extremely low mortgage balances relative to their value (think: newly built homes).

Looking at both metrics reveals that Americans' home equity increased steadily from 2013 through 2019 but has started to flatten out somewhat over the past few quarters:

Q4 2013 Q4 2014 Q4 2015 Q4 2016 Q4 2017 Q4 2018 Q4 2019

$76,900 $88,000 $97,300 $106,700 $116,100 $126,200 $164,600