Data Notes
Notes on annual aggregation, CPI-U real dollar deflation, decade averages, and housing affordability ratios.
Annualizing Monthly & Quarterly Releases
Monthly and quarterly flow, price, and rate series (such as CPI-U, the civilian unemployment rate, and median home sales prices) are converted into calendar-year arithmetic averages. Balance-sheet stock and fiscal-year series (such as Federal Public Debt, M2 Money Stock, and OMB fiscal balances) report the published year-end or fiscal-year figure. FHFA NMDB mortgage origination rates use the agency's published annual statistics.
Real Purchasing Power (2025 Dollars)
Nominal dollar series (including the federal minimum wage, retail gasoline prices, and median home prices) are adjusted into constant 2025 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPIAUCNS): Real_2025_USD(t) = Nominal_USD(t) * (CPI_2025 / CPI(t)).
Decade Summary Strip (1950s-2020s)
Each indicator page includes a horizontal decade summary strip from the 1950s through the 2020s, reporting the unweighted arithmetic mean, minimum annual reading, and maximum annual reading across all available calendar years in that decade.
FHFA House Price Index & Mortgage Origination Rates
The FHFA national all-transactions house price index (1980 Q1 = 100, nominal, not seasonally adjusted) averages all four quarterly readings for each complete calendar year from 1975 to 2025 across repeat sales and refinancing appraisals. FHFA NMDB mortgage origination interest rates (1998-2025) report the published annual loan-count-weighted average contract rate (AVE_INTRATE, VALUE1) across newly originated purchase and refinance mortgages.
Home Price-to-Income Ratio
The U.S. Median Home Price-to-Income Ratio divides the annual Census/HUD Median Sales Price of Houses Sold (MSPUS) by nominal Median Household Income (MEHOINUSA646N, extended prior to 1984 using BEA nominal personal income per capita scaled to the 1984 household benchmark). Time-series charts use Lightweight Charts™ by TradingView (Apache License, Version 2.0).