I just read a great article about the data we have been getting about real estate.   It was written by Chris Pummer who writes for Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News.  It is titled "Home-price data has its flaws.  You can read the entire article at http://www.marketwatch.com, but here is just a few paragraphs I that were very interesting.

"Commonly cited measures of U.S. home prices are overstating the degree to which the vast majority of Americans' home values have declined in the last year, producers of two of the most widely tracked indexes acknowledged this week.

Top officials with the National Association of Realtors and Standard & Poor's, which issues the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, agreed this week their monthly reports are giving imprecise readings of price changes at all levels -- national, state and regional -- due to rare market conditions that are skewing survey results.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index, which Tuesday posted a 12.7% decline for February, is skewed for two reasons of its own -- it tracks just 20 major markets, many among the hardest hit, and its "repeat sales" survey by design pulls in individual homes both bought and sold in the last few years. Many of those are now being dumped by distressed homeowners and investors who bought at peak market prices and face higher mortgage-rate adjustments.

"Just like saying the average nationwide temperature today is 57 degrees doesn't tell you anything, the same is true for real estate prices, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. "The only way to tell what your own home is really worth is to look at local-market conditions, do Internet research and utilize professionals (such as licensed appraisers) to help determine the value of your home."

If you would like a professional opinion of the value of your home in the Atlanta market, please feel free to contact one of our Realtors.  You can reach them at any of our three offices.  Just visit our website at www.AtlantaGAHomes.com for phone numbers or to send us an email message.