Daily Real Estate News | July 23, 2008
Home prices in May dropped 4.8 percent year-over-year and 0.3 from April, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight reported Tuesday, but officials found reason to be optimistic.
The declines appear to be slowing, the U.S. agency said. And the hard-hit Pacific Division, which includes Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California, saw a monthly price increase of 0.3 percent, its first price jump since March 2007.
OFHEO said that the South Atlantic region, which includes Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, led the monthly decline with prices falling 1.2 percent from April to May.
The only region to see an annual price gain was the West South Central, with an increase of 0.5 percent. That area includes Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.
“It is very hard to draw conclusions from a one-month number, especially in these uncertain times; but the numbers in the Pacific, East and West North Central Divisions may be good signs,” Ofheo Director James B. Lockhart said in a statement.
Source: Bloomberg, Kathleen M. Howley (07/22/2008)
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