Brian's Colorado Springs & Pikes Peak Region Web Log (Blog)

In yet another demonstration that ALL REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL and if it bleeds it leads, Freddie Mac announced that its Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI) Classic Series registered a 1.3 percent drop in national home values during the third quarter of 2007.

However, the very same report states that the West South Central states led growth in home values with an annualized appreciation rate of 4.8 percent during the third quarter, followed by the East South Central states, which showed a smaller gain of 3.4 percent.  The Mountain states came next, with a growth rate of 1.9 percent. 

On the other hand, the Middle Atlantic states experienced a negative price growth of 0.5 percent.  Homes in the West North Central region saw a decline in average values of 1.2 percent, followed by a 2.3 percent decline in the South Atlantic regions and a drop of 3.4 percent in both the New England and East North Central states.   States in the Pacific region saw home values slip 3.5 percent based on the CMHPI-Classic Series.

 The CMHPI Classic Series includes data from both home purchase transactions and mortgage refinancings based on appraisals. Based on the CMHPI-Classic Series,  

The CMHPI Purchase-Only measure found prices falling in seven of nine regions and in 25 states during the third quarter.  The Pacific region fell the most at a 5.8 percent annualized rate.  In contrast, a robust energy industry in the oil-patch states fueled a 4.9 percent annualized gain in house prices in the West South Central region,” added Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac’s Deputy Chief Economist.

So the trend of declines on both coasts continues while the trend of stable or increasing property values in the middle of the country also continues despite all the gloom and doom that the press likes to shovel out.