First American Data & Analytics, a division of First American Financial Corporation, announced the release of its October 2025 Home Price Index (HPI) report, revealing a modest reacceleration in annual house price appreciation, marking the first such uptick since November 2024 after a 10-month period of deceleration.
The report, which tracks home price changes with a less than four-week lag, indicated that the national non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) HPI saw a month-over-month decrease of 0.2 percent from September to October 2025. However, the year-over-year appreciation for October 2025 stood at +0.8 percent, representing an acceleration compared to previous months. The HPI for August 2025 to September 2025 was also revised up by 0.1 percentage point, from -0.1 percent to 0.0 percent.
Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American, commented on the findings, stating, “After 10 months of deceleration, October brought a small reacceleration in annual house price growth—the first since November 2024.” He characterized the uptick as “price stabilization,” attributing it to “affordability headwinds and gradually increasing supply [that] continue to sap price pressures.” Fleming noted that appreciation remains near its slowest pace since 2012 and is likely to persist at that level through the end of the year.
The First American Data & Analytics HPI also segments home price changes at the metropolitan level into three price tiers: starter, mid-tier, and luxury. These tiers are based on local market sales data, representing the bottom, middle, and top third of the market price distribution, respectively.
Fleming observed a “top-led” local price momentum, with appreciation strongest in the luxury tier across the 30 largest markets tracked. New York, Newark, N.
J., and Pittsburgh led this trend. He explained that “equity-rich buyers” in the high-end market are “less constrained by mortgage rates, as cash financing is more common.” Conversely, home buyers in the starter and mid-tier segments, who are more rate-sensitive, experienced weaker price growth due to “still-low affordability.”
For October 2025, the Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) with the greatest year-over-year increases in Luxury Tier HPI were:
New York: +14.8 percent (with Starter Tier at -0.1 percent, Mid-Tier at -1.3 percent)
Newark, N.
J.: +5.9 percent (with Starter Tier at +3.4 percent, Mid-Tier at +4.8 percent)
Pittsburgh: +5.1 percent (with Starter Tier at +4.1 percent, Mid-Tier at +6.0 percent)
Washington: +3.6 percent (with Starter Tier at +0.5 percent, Mid-Tier at +1.9 percent)
Warren, Mich.: +3.4 percent (with Starter Tier at +5.9 percent, Mid-Tier at +1.6 percent)
Additional highlights for October 2025 HPI showed CBSAs with the greatest overall year-over-year increases in HPI included:
Pittsburgh: +4.5 percent
Newark, N.
J.: +4.0 percent
Warren, Mich.: +3.3 percent
New York: +3.2 percent
St. Louis: +2.9 percent
Conversely, CBSAs experiencing a year-over-year decrease in HPI included:
Oakland, Calif.: -5.9 percent
Tampa, Fla.: -4.4 percent
Phoenix: -4.0 percent
Denver: -3.5 percent
Orlando, Fla.: -2.8 percent
The First American Data & Analytics HPI report measures single-family home prices, including distressed sales, using a repeat-sales methodology with over 46 million paired transactions. The next release of the HPI is scheduled for the week of December 15, 2025.
First American Data & Analytics, a division of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF), provides property-centric information, risk management, and valuation solutions. First American Financial Corporation is a premier provider of title, settlement, and risk solutions for real estate transactions, with a history spanning over 135 years.
