S&P/Case-Schiller vs. OFHEO
S&P/Case-Schiller and OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) both publish a “national” price index. The Case-Schiller index has been getting much play on national media lately. Their most recent index shows a huge drop in appreciation during the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, this index only represents data from 20 metropolitan areas in 13 states. It is weighted toward higher priced homes and it is designed to overstate housing up’s and down’s. OFHEO’s index contains data from 291 metropolitan areas in all 50 states. Real Estate is local and the more data points you have the better the focus. I think the OFHEO index should be used more by the media. It tempers the extremes and gives a clear picture at the local level. In my next post I will give the latest data for Boulder County presented by OFHEO.
