Study Says Home Prices NOT Falling

Study Says Home Prices NOT Falling

 

Most studies say U.S. home prices are on the decline, but a new report from the federal government says just the opposite.

 

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which has tracked prices for more than 30 years, said recently that its housing price index grew 4.3 percent in the first quarter compared with a year ago.  It was the slowest rate of growth in 10 years, however.

 

Earlier this month, the National Association of Realtors reported the latest national average home price dropped 1.8 percent in the first quarter compared with a year ago.  The Case-Shiller index, based, in part on OFHEO data, also showed a drop in prices.

 

Part of the disparity between the OFHEO index and NAR prices may stem form the way each organization calculates change.

 

NAR simply calculates the median sale price for each housing market.  The median is a midpoint: it eliminates the impact an unusually large number of extremely expensive or very cheap properties would have on mean averages.

 

OFHEO's housing price index looks at differences in values when single-family homes are resold or refinanced.  When borrowers refinance their mortgages, new home-value appraisals are made, and those numbers are factored into the OFHEO index.

 

The OFHEO index also may not account for additions to the living spaces of homes or changes in their general conditions.