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Home > Real Estate > Archives > 2006 > December > 05

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Don’t like the short-term news? Look at the long term

By Jeff Ostrowski | Tuesday, December 5, 2006, 06:17 PM

The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index says the number of contracts signed in October is down 1.7 percent from September and down 13.6 percent from October 2005.

The optimists at NAR insist the market is “stabilizing.” But if you’re still feeling pessimistic about the short-term direction of the housing market, we’ll point you to a more reassuring measure of home prices.

According to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, American home prices have quadrupled since 1980. Here’s the state-by-state breakdown:

State: Increase since 1980

Massachusetts: 626%

New York: 555%

California: 551%

District of Columbia: 545%

Rhode Island: 511%

Florida: 388%

National Average: 303%

Mississippi: 145%

Kansas: 144%

Louisiana: 140%

West Virginia: 131%

Oklahoma: 99%

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