Which Regions Are Speeding Up or Cooling Down (2026)
Beyond the level of prices, the direction is shifting: some regions are regaining momentum while former boom areas lose it.
Key findings
- Momentum, not just level, is shifting. Middle Atlantic is the fastest-accelerating region: its year-over-year growth rose to +6.2% as of July 2026, up from +5.4% a year earlier.
- West North Central is cooling the fastest: growth slowed to +2.8% from +4.3% a year earlier, a swing of -1.5 points.
- Of the nine divisions, 3 were accelerating (faster growth than a year ago) and 6 were decelerating.
- Acceleration is the change in the growth rate, so a positive number means prices are rising faster than they were, not that they are high.
Where a market is heading matters as much as where it is. This compares each Census division's latest year-over-year home-price growth with its growth a year earlier, using the FHFA purchase-only monthly index through July 2026. A positive gap means the region is picking up speed; a negative gap means it is cooling. The pattern shows the housing market rebalancing, with several older regions firming while some recent boom areas lose steam. An index tracks price change, not dollar levels.
Acceleration and deceleration by region
| Percentage-point change in the growth rate | Change in year-over-year growth rate (points) |
|---|---|
| Middle Atlantic | 0.85 |
| South Atlantic | 0.79 |
| Pacific | 0.22 |
| New England | -0.17 |
| East South Central | -0.19 |
| East North Central | -0.24 |
| West South Central | -0.44 |
| Mountain | -0.91 |
| West North Central | -1.51 |
By region
| Region | YoY now | YoY a year ago | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle Atlantic | +6.2% | +5.4% | +0.8 |
| South Atlantic | +1.8% | +1.0% | +0.8 |
| Pacific | +0.8% | +0.6% | +0.2 |
| New England | +4.0% | +4.2% | -0.2 |
| East South Central | +2.4% | +2.6% | -0.2 |
| East North Central | +4.4% | +4.7% | -0.2 |
| West South Central | +1.1% | +1.6% | -0.4 |
| Mountain | +0.6% | +1.5% | -0.9 |
| West North Central | +2.8% | +4.3% | -1.5 |
FHFA purchase-only monthly index. Acceleration is the latest year-over-year change minus the change a year earlier. Index percent change, not dollar prices.
Data Sources & Methodology
The figures on this page are computed directly from the source data below. Narrative text accompanies the figures but never generates them.
FHFA House Price Index (HPI)
- Publisher:
- Federal Housing Finance Agency
- Vintage:
- 2026
- Access:
- BigQuery
- Cadence:
- monthly
The Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index measures changes in single-family home values using a repeat-sales method on mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The master file carries every published series: monthly indexes for the nation and the nine Census divisions, and quarterly indexes for states and metropolitan areas, in multiple index types, back to the 1970s.
The HPI is a weighted repeat-sales index: it tracks price changes on the same homes over time using mortgage transactions acquired or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Values are index levels relative to a base period, not dollar prices.
Monthly indexes are published for the United States and the nine Census divisions; state and metropolitan-area indexes are quarterly. Both seasonally adjusted and not-seasonally-adjusted series are provided.
Price growth is computed as the percent change in the index between two periods. Because it is an index, comparisons are about rate of change, not absolute price levels between places.
- The purchase-only and standard indexes cover only homes with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages, so cash sales and homes financed outside the enterprises are not included.
- It is an index of price change, not a measure of dollar price levels, so two places with the same index are not equally expensive.
- Monthly detail exists only for the nation and Census divisions; state and metro series are quarterly.
- Recent periods can be revised as more transactions are reported.
How these figures were produced
- Estimate type:
- Repeat-sales price index (not a count or dollar level)
- Weighting:
- Repeat-sales weighting of enterprise-acquired mortgages
Suggested citation
Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index, 2026. Analysis by Matt George, itsmattgeorge.com. Retrieved 2026-10-24.