OFHEO: Home Prices Up 5.61% 3Q-3Q

Meanwhile, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's House Price Index indicates that average home prices rose by 5.61% in the third quarter from the level recorded a year earlier, according to OFHEO.OFHEO's index also shows that price appreciation, based on resales and refinancings, accelerated from a 4.66% annual rate in the second quarter to a 5.56% annual rate in the third quarter. The second-quarter number was the lowest annualized rate of appreciation since the HPI registered 4.58% in the fourth quarter of 1999. OFHEO gets its pricing data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In general, the increase in house prices has slowed over the past four quarters from an 8.73% annual rate in the third quarter of 2002. "These numbers in our HPI report show a stabilization of prices, with continued strength in housing markets throughout most of the country," OFHEO Director Armando Falcon Jr. said. The National Association of Realtors recently reported that the national median existing-home price was $172,400 in October, up 8.2% from October 2002. OFHEO can be found online at http://www.ofheo.gov.