Home sale vs the market
Did your home beat the market?
Enter what you paid, what you sold or are asking, the dates and your ZIP code. You get your gain next to your area’s gain over the same window, and how many dollars apart they are, from the federal FHFA House Price Index with the math shown.
Compare your sale with your area
Fill in the purchase, the sale and the ZIP, then press the button. The example below is a real result.
Informational only, not professional advice and not an appraisal. The market figure is the area’s average, which no particular house follows exactly.
Methodology
The comparison. Your change = sale price ÷ purchase price − 1. Market change = index at sale ÷ index at purchase − 1, using the FHFA House Price Index for the smallest area with a value at both dates. The difference in percentage points is the headline, and purchase price × market change is what the area alone would have made of your home, so the dollar gap between that and your price is also shown.
Which series and dates. FHFA’s all-transactions index, not seasonally adjusted, at every level: quarterly for states and metro areas (latest 2026 Q2), annual for counties and 5-digit ZIPs (files dated March 31, 2026, through 2025). A month is matched to its quarter or year, and both periods are printed. A level is skipped when it has no index, when its index starts after the purchase, when either period’s value is missing, when the sale period has not been published yet, or when purchase and sale fall in the same annual period.
What the gap is made of. The index follows repeat sales of the same homes, so its change is what an unchanged, typical home in the area did. Anything about your house that differed from typical, and anything you did to it, lands in the gap. So does luck in timing and a below- or above-market purchase price. The tool cannot separate those; it can only show the gap honestly.
Snapshot, not a live feed. The index files are pulled from FHFA and committed to this site (last pull 2026-09-28). A sale in the last few months may be after the latest published period; the result says so.
What this comparison cannot know
- Your house. The market side is the area’s average. Renovations, condition and lot are ignored by it and are the usual reason for a gap.
- Sales the index never sees. Per FHFA’s own description, the index is built from repeat sales and appraisals on conforming mortgages. Cash, jumbo, FHA and VA purchases are not in it.
- What you actually cleared. Commissions, closing costs, repairs and the mortgage balance are not deducted. This compares prices, not proceeds.
- Whether either price was right. It is not an appraisal of the home at either date.
Last reviewed: September 2026. Data vintage: FHFA master file 2026 Q2; annual county and ZIP files dated March 31, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What does beating the market mean here?
Your price changed by more, in percent, than the FHFA House Price Index for your area changed between the quarter or year you bought and the one you sold. The tool shows both percentages, the dollar figure the area's change alone would have produced, and the gap between that and your price. It is a comparison with the average, not a grade.
Can I use it before I sell?
Yes. Enter your asking price or an offer and the current month as the sale date. If FHFA has not yet published the index for that period, the tool says so and you can use the latest period it names instead. The comparison then tells you how far your price sits above or below what the area's change alone implies.
My home beat the index by a lot. Why?
Usually because of things the index cannot see. A renovation, an addition, a lot or a street that is better than the area's average, or a purchase below market all show up as beating the index, and their opposites as trailing it. The index only knows the area; the gap is where your house comes in. Timing within a quarter and a thin ZIP index can also move the figure.
Which area does it compare against?
The smallest one with an index for both dates: your ZIP code, then its county, then its metro area, then your state. The result names the level it used and each level it skipped, with the reason. ZIP and county indexes are annual and labeled developmental by FHFA, so a purchase and sale in the same year cannot be compared at those levels and the tool moves up to the quarterly metro or state index.
Guides
- Did My Home Beat the Market? Comparing Your Sale With the IndexCompare your sale's price change with your area's FHFA index over the same window. What beating the market means, one sale worked, and why the gap is the house.
Related tools
Enter what you paid, when, and your ZIP. See what your home is worth today if it grew like homes in your area did, with the FHFA index values and the math shown.
Open tool →Home Price Change Since Any YearPick a state or metro area and a month since 1975. See how much home prices have gone up since then, per year, with the FHFA index values and the same window for the state and the US.
Open tool →