National real estate indexes misleading the public

Real Estate Information Systems and Media recently reported the national real estate indexes mislead the public on market trends because the data they report is at a national level, not at a state or local level.

According to the news source, William Raveis Real Estate advices agents and potential homebuyers to look at seasonal trends and housing data for just their local markets to obtain a mroe practical picture. Bill Raveis, chairman and CEO of William Raveis Real Estate, told the news source that local housing data uses figures from the Multiple Listing Service, and does not plug data into a formula as national indexes do. Local data provides more up-to-date numbers, and consumers can search by price, not just averages.

"In additions to average sales price, local housing data presents key market variables, such as unit sales, median sales prices, inventory, market time and price per square foot," Raveis told the news source.

A recent Rasmussen Report found that only 43 percent of respondents believe buying a home is the best investment a family can make, down from 47 percent in June. In addition, 13 percent of all adults nationwide say now is a good time for someone in their area to sell their house, while 72 percent say now is not a good time to sell a home in their area.  

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