Climbing prices take a breather

December 3, 2002

Third quarter average housing appreciation cools off


Inman News Features

U.S. average home price appreciation in the third quarter came to a screeching halt at 0.84 percent, according to federal data released today.

The quarterly average was a sharp decline from the 2.39 percent average recorded in the second quarter, but increased 6.16 percent from the third quarter average of last year, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's house price index.

Seven states and 33 metropolitan statistical areas experienced negative growth in the third quarter. The states were Vermont, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Alaska.

California dominated the top 20 metropolitan statistical areas seeing increases with nine areas in the state showing rapid appreciation.

Rhode Island saw the fastest growth rate over the past year at 14.1 percent, followed by the District of Columbia at 11 percent, New Jersey at just under 11 percent, New York at 10.2 percent and Maryland at 10.1 percent.

The index is a quarterly report that analyzes housing appreciation trends and is based on data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Copyright: Inman News Service


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