How are O.C. home prices doing? Numerous groups track the local market using various tactics. That’s why price reports can frequently give contradictory trend information. Here’s a peek at seven key local price indexes followed by The Orange County Register for the most recent annualized 12-month price changes recorded by these indexes, and the period clocked with those changes — plus this blog’s index of indexes. It’s been updated as of Apr. 29 …
| Provider | Latest | Last report, as of | Year ago |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case-Shiller (LA/OC) | -19.4% | Feb. ‘08 | -0.4% |
| DataQuick | -16.1% | Apr. 8 | -0.2% |
| First American (LA/OC) | -15.4% | Dec. ‘07 | +1.4% |
| Global/National City | -11.0% | 4q/2007 | +0.0% |
| OFHEO | -6.1% | 4q/2007 | +5.4% |
| Realtors | -16.3% | Mar. ‘08 | -1.5% |
| Research Council | -6.9% | Oct. ‘07 | +4.5% |
| Our Index Index* | -9.3% | Jan. 4 | +0.4% |
*… and just what is our Index Index? Well, the recipe is a time-weighted average of these seven benchmarks where the more current indexes get more influence over the final tally. And, yes, we average the reporting dates using midpoints of the reporting periods.
… and what are these numbers all about? Who’s collecting and tallying this data?
• Case-Shiller: Housing trackers from New England created another paired-sales index, this one for L.A. and O.C., using publicly recorded sales data for existing single-family homes. Reports monthly. Used as basis for house-price trading in commodity markets and marketed under S&P brand. Index history can be FOUND HERE.
• DataQuick: A private company from La Jolla that tracks median price of all publicly recorded sales transaction involving all types of homes in O.C. including single-family, condos, new constructions and apartments sold as condos. Reports weekly. To see Web site, CLICK HERE.
• First American LoanPerformance: The Santa Ana title-insurance giant’s data analyzers use paired-sales analysis to track single-family home resales in L.A. and O.C. counties. Uses public data. Reports monthly.
• Global Insight/National City: Economists and Global Insight and bankers at National City uses various federal hosuing benchmarks to create their indexes. Report quarterly.
• Realtors: The California Association of Realtors trade group tracks median sales price of existing single-family homes sold through brokers’ Multiple Listing Services. Reports monthly. To see CAR news releases, CLICK HERE.
• OFHEO: A U.S. mortgage regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight tracks price change through “paired sales.” This analysis compares gains or losses in values for existing single-family homes involved in transactions in a given period. OFHEO uses both sales and loan refinance data from mortgage applications. Reports quarterly. Index history can be FOUND HERE.
• Real Estate Research Council of Southern California: This industry education group from Cal Poly Pomona produces one of the most distinct tracking of regional home values. Reports semi-annually. The council gets volunteer appraisers to semi-annually revalue the exact same homes as a proxy for the housing market. This process is limited to a small sample size but the use of the same homes eliminates some of the statistical noise within other measures of housing values that follow an ever-changing collection of housing stock. In The O.C., for instance, the council constantly reappraises 39 homes.
