OFHEO Quarterly Appreciation Report
The latest price index report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has been released and it contains some very interesting information. During the one year period ending June 30th 2008 the average appreciation nationally was -1.71% for purchases and transactions and -4.8% for purchase only transactions. Thirty of the fifty states showed positive appreciation for the one year period; and CA, FL and NV saw prices decline more than 12% over the the past two quarters.
Closer to home, Colorado had average appreciation of 1.82% over the past year, ranking it 18th. For the 1 year period ending in March, Colorado ranked 23rd with an appreciation of 2.29%. Clearly appreciation nationally is still struggling. For the Boulder area; our appreciation for the past year was 2.47%, ranking it 69th out of 292 metropolitan areas, not bad. For the second quarter Boulder County had appreciation of .25%, ranking it 67th.
According to Patrick Lawler, the chief economist of OFHEO “The most overbuilt areas of the country –including California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida –contrast greatly with most other states, where prices are declining more moderately or even increasing”.
The attached chart shows the appreciation rate of Boulder County in orange contrasted to the United States as a whole.
