Real Estate Report: Housing Prices Down By 0.3% in May

Mountain View, CA (PRWEB) June 10, 2008 - The Altos 10-City Composite Price Index showed a decline in asking prices of just 0.3% in May. Prices of properties listed for-sale increased in 15 of 26 major markets according to the Real-Time Real Estate Report (http://www.altosresearch.com/), jointly published by Altos Research, the premier source for real-time real estate research (http://www.altosresearch.com), and market analysis consultancy Real IQ?.

Asking prices fell at the fastest rate in Las Vegas - down 3.7% during May and 6.5% over the most recent three-month period. Listing prices rose at the fastest rate in Denver up 3.7% and Dallas up 2.2% during May. Prices increased by more than one percent for the month in 11 of 26 markets.

"The weakest markets continue to be concentrated in Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada which all experienced the fastest price increases during the boom times," said Michael Simonsen, CEO and co-founder of Altos Research. "Now these same markets are outpacing others on the downside as foreclosures and price declines continue relentlessly. We're seeing some stability in many markets outside of these hard-hit states."

Listed property inventories increased substantially with the 10-City Composite markets showing an increase of 7.9% during the first quarter and 3.7% in May. Inventory rose in 25 of 26 markets with the Miami market being the only exception. Inventory actually declined 1.3% in Miami during May and 2.4% during the past three months.

Data in the Real-Time Housing Market Report is based on analysis of over one million properties currently listed for-sale in 26 metropolitan markets across the country. The report is the most timely source of housing market data on current market activity.

For the Altos 10-City Composite, the average days-on-market was 106 - an improvement from 111 in April and 113 in March. Miami experienced the longest time-on-market span with an average days-on-market of 152. San Francisco led all markets with the fastest rate of inventory turnover at an average of 73 days-on-market.

"Continued growth in inventory across virtually all markets will restrain near-term price increases," said Stephen Bedikian, partner and research director for Real IQ. "Markets like Denver and Dallas are showing strength because they did not experience high price inflation during the boom and are showing only limited inventory growth now. Affordability and limited inventory are the keys to a healthy market."

The report examines housing pricing, inventory levels and market conditions in 26 major U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, DC. The Real-Time Real Estate Report is released every month.

About Altos Research

Altos Research LLC pioneered real-time real estate research. Founded in 2005, the company's information products serve investors, traders, and thousands of real estate professionals. Because real estate data is traditionally obscure and highly latent, Altos built the Real-Time Market Intelligence(TM) platform to monitor dozens of housing market metrics as they are right now in local markets across the country. The company publishes real estate reports (http://www.altosresearch.com/altos/website/InvestorsLenders.page) and real estate data (http://www.altosresearch.com/altos/website/PdtAndSvcs.page) each week for thousands of zip codes around the country.

About Real IQ

Real IQ provides housing market analysis and consulting services to leading mortgage and real estate companies. More information about Real IQ is located at www.realiq.com.

###