Cutting Through the Noise: An in-depth look at the various housing price indices.

1. RESEARCH Home Price Monitor Cutting Through the Noise January 26, 2011 Next Release: February 26, 2011

2. Highlights and Outlook Home prices were relatively stable in November and December, a seasonally weak time for home sales. Most data series showed slight or modest declines for the month and year, but a few measures showed slight increases in prices and new home prices rose robustly. Rising home sales and smaller inventories will contribute to price stability going forward, perhaps especially among newer homes where low levels of construction have inventories of new homes for sale near all-time lows. Job growth, a relatively stable level of hires and an increase in job openings bode well for consumer demand and increased sales in the months ahead. RESEARCH

3. Home Prices RESEARCH Sources: NAR, Case-Shiller, CoreLogic, FHFA, Census, HAVER

4. Home Price Data – Year over Year Change RESEARCH Sources: NAR, Case-Shiller, CoreLogic, FHFA, Census, HAVER

5. Home Price Changes RESEARCH *All data are not seasonally adjusted. Monthly changes should typically be computed only for Seasonally Adjusted (SA) data. Because these change rates are often covered in the media regardless of their suitability for analysis, they are presented here but should be used with caution. Annual (yr-over-yr) changes computed for Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) data give a measure that is not affected by seasonal fluctuations. Sources: NAR, Case-Shiller, CoreLogic, FHFA, Census, HAVER

6. Spread of Existing Home Price ChangesYear over Year RESEARCH Sources: NAR, Case-Shiller, CoreLogic, FHFA, HAVER

7. Supply and Demand Factors – Inventory RESEARCH Sources: NAR

8. Supply – New Housing Starts and Permits RESEARCH Sources: Census

9. Underlying Demand – Job Growth and Hires RESEARCH Sources: BLS

10. Potential Job Growth – Openings RESEARCH Sources: BLS

11. Housing Affordability RESEARCH Sources: NAR

12. About the Price Data Series RESEARCH For more information, visit NAR Research Sources: NAR, Case-Shiller, CoreLogic, FHFA, Census, HAVER