Home Prices Get New Index

Submitted by Ronald Tennant with Metrocities Mortgage:

National Mortgage News (05/19/08) Vol. 32, No. 33, P. 7; Sichelman, Lew
Denver-based Integrated Asset Services (IAS) will roll out its new home price gauge, the Intelligent Market Volatility Index (iMVI), in June. Unlike the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's regional and state home price index and the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index that covers several metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), iMVI measures mean residential prices on a street-by-street basis. The company points out that one section of a neighborhood in Denver posted an 8-percent jump in home prices, while the next block over registered a 7.5-percent decline; at the same time, national home prices fell 6.1 percent, the Denver MSA experienced a 9.79-percent drop and Clear Creek County posted a decrease of 21.5 percent. "For the first time ever, iMVI allows the mortgage banking industry to have near-perfect analysis of their residential holdings down to the neighborhood level instead of settling for MSA-level data," says IAS Chief Financial Officer Ryan Tomazin. "If you send us a street address, we can show you exactly what's going on in that neighborhood so you can act more intelligently with regards to your loss-mitigation strategy, foreclosure or whatever." The monthly index takes into account more than 15,000 homogenous geographical segments and 400 unique features that affect property values; and while it does not cover refinancings, it does include new and existing sales, condominiums, homes of all values and all mortgage products.