Guide to Aggregate House Price Measures : A Reprint from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Review

In recent years, the U.S. has experienced wide swings in the growth rate of housing prices (HP). To understand the behavior of HP it is crucial to have an accurate measure of aggregate HP. However, it is difficult to develop such a measure. Analysts rely on 3 approaches to measure the aggregate price of housing. The 1st averages all observed HP, with no attempt to control for heterogeneity. The 2nd looks at repeat sales of the same property. The 3rd treats a house as a bundle of attributes, each with its own price that changes over time. Here is an overview of the 3 methodol. for pricing housing & a detailed guide to the major house price indices used by housing analysts. There is no one ¿best¿ measure of HP. Each of the 3 has advantages. Illus.Rappaport, Jordan is the author of 'Guide to Aggregate House Price Measures : A Reprint from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Review', published 2007 under ISBN 9781422317426 and ISBN 1422317420.