Methodology

Regional, not property-level

FHFA publishes its quarterly ZIP-level index for 3-digit ZIP regions: every ZIP code that shares the same first three digits. ZIP codes 22901, 22903, and 22911, for example, all fall in region 229 and share one index. Results on this site describe average price movement across that whole region. They are not estimates for any 5-digit ZIP code, street, neighborhood, parcel, or individual home, and they are not appraisals or assessments.

Percent change and the calculator

Percent change between two quarters equals (ending index ÷ starting index − 1) × 100. The calculator multiplies the value you enter by ending index ÷ starting index for the region and quarters you choose.

Time windows on data pages (1, 3, 5, and 10 years) compare the latest quarter with the same quarter that many years earlier. "Since Q1 1995" compares the latest quarter with Q1 1995. Gaps between areas are shown in percentage points: one area's percent change minus the other's.

Rebasing (Q1 1995 = 100)

FHFA series start from different bases: the ZIP3 index uses Q1 1995 = 100, while state, metro, and national series use Q1 1980 = 100. To put them on one chart, each series is rebased: rebased index = (index in a quarter ÷ index in the base quarter) × 100.

Comparison charts use Q1 1995 as the base by default; the compare tool lets you choose another start quarter. Rebasing changes only the starting level. Percent changes between any two quarters are identical before and after rebasing, so a line ending at 300 has tripled since the base quarter.

Rankings

Rankings order regions from the strongest to the weakest percent change over a window; rank 1 is the strongest. National ranks include every 3-digit ZIP region with data for that window; state ranks include regions assigned to that state. Regions that share an identical FHFA series (see index types below) receive consecutive ranks rather than a tie.

FHFA index types

FHFA reports an index type for each region. "Native 3-Digit ZIP index" means FHFA estimated a separate index for the region. Where sales are too thin, FHFA instead reports the region with its state's non-metropolitan index ("Balance of State") or its metro area index ("MSA/MSAD Index"). Regions with those types share values with other regions, and their pages say so.

Inflation-adjusted (real) growth

Real growth = (ending index ÷ starting index) ÷ (ending CPI ÷ starting CPI) − 1. Quarterly CPI is the average of the monthly CPI-U values in that quarter. BLS did not publish a few months; those quarters are averaged over the months available, provided at least two exist.

Boom, bust, and recovery

For each area, the 2000s peak is its highest quarterly index between Q1 2004 and Q4 2009. The low point is its lowest index from that peak through Q4 2015. The peak-to-low change is the percent change between them; a decline smaller than 1% is reported as no meaningful drop. The recovery quarter is the first quarter after the low in which the index equals or exceeds the peak, and years to recover equals the quarters from peak to recovery divided by four.

Region labels and metro assignment

Labels are assigned from Census 2010 ZCTA relationship files using 2010 population weights. A region's state is the state holding the largest share of its population; other states are listed when they hold at least 5%. Counties holding at least 5% of the population are listed, largest first. The place label is the largest incorporated place in the region, unless there is none or an unincorporated community is more than five times its size, in which case the largest community is used.

A region's metro area is the OMB metro area (or metropolitan division, where FHFA reports divisions) holding the largest share of its population, if that share is at least 25%. Metro pages list regions with at least 10% of their population inside the metro. Nearby regions are the six closest by population-weighted center. The ZIP code range shown is the lowest and highest Census ZCTA in the region.

Mortgage rates

Quarterly rates are the average of Freddie Mac's weekly 30-year fixed rate in each quarter. Annual rates in tables average the weeks of that year up to the latest quarter of home price data.

Revisions and missing values

FHFA revises earlier quarters with each release, so every update re-imports the full history and recalculates every figure, and the quarterly report summarizes the revisions. Earlier quarters can therefore change slightly between updates. When a value is not available in the source data, the site shows Not available rather than estimating a replacement.