Wichita Falls, TX Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Wichita Falls, TX, 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 the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC). The HPI value for any given quarter is equal to the arithmetic average of indices for all HPI metropolitan areas.

As of the fourth quarter of 2019, the FHFA HPI for Wichita Falls was 154.811, down 0.1 percent from the third quarter but up 1.0 percent from a year earlier. The 12-month change in house prices in Wichita Falls was lower than the national rate of 2.2 percent and also lagged behind most other Texas metro areas tracked by the FHFA HPI.

Wichita Falls home prices have been on a long-term upward trend since bottoming out at around 125 in early 2009. However, price gains have been modest in recent years, averaging just over 2 percent per year since 2016. In contrast, home prices nationally have been rising at a much faster pace, averaging nearly 6 percent annually over that same time period.

One reason for the more moderate price growth in Wichita Falls may be that its economy has not been growing as rapidly as other parts of Texas or the country as a whole. Employment growth in Wichita Falls averaged just 0.6 percent per year from 2010 to 2018, compared to an annual average of 1.7 percent for Texas and 1.5 percent for the United States during that time period . Additionally, wage growth in Wichita Falls has lagged behind both state and national averages over the last several years . These factors likely contributed to slower than average house price appreciation in Wichita Falls during that time frame .