Home Prices Drop Most in 17 Years

Submitted by Ronald Tennant with Metrocities Mortgage:

Washington Post (05/23/08) P. D1; Zibel, Alan
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) confirms that residential prices declined 3.1 percent nationally in this year's first quarter compared with the first three months of 2007. It was the sharpest decline in the index's 17-year history and only the second quarter in which prices had declined since the index began in 1991. Officials point out that rapidly falling home prices in three big states--California, Florida and Nevada--skewed the national results. The OFHEO index provides a comprehensive reading of the country's housing market. This is especially true for Midwestern states, where housing prices never shot up to stratospheric heights and have been less impacted by the real estate downturn.