From Homescape

A new report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight parallels recent statistics from the U.S. Commerce Department and the National Association of Realtors, showing declines in housing appreciation.

Declines during the fourth quarter of 2007 erased earlier gains, pushing U.S. housing appreciation into negative territory for the year for the first time in 17 years, according to the OFHEO.

The report shows that of 291 metro areas more than 90 recorded year-over-year price drops. While states like Utah, Texas and Washington were among the 20 best performing areas, California and Florida home prices continue to tumble due to sweeping housing problems. Of the 20 worst performing metro areas, half were located in California — Modesto, Stockton, Salinas, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Vallejo-Fairfield, Yuba City, Fresno, Bakersfield and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura. Merced, Calif., was hit hardest with price declines falling 19 percent over the past four quarters. Florida cities such as Port St. Lucie and Naples-Marco Island rounded out the list.

OFHEO works to ensure the capital adequacy and financial safety and soundness of two housing government-sponsored enterprises — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The agency’s House Price Index is published quarterly and tracks average house-price changes in repeat sales or refinancing of the same single-family properties. The index is based on analysis of data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from more than 30 million repeat transactions over the past 30 years.

Top 20 Metropolitan Areas with House Price Appreciation
(As of Dec. 31, by percentage)

Metro Area	Rank	1 quarter	1  year	5  years
Wenatchee, WA	1	0.54	13.67	77.93
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	2	5.43	12.15	49.40
Grand Junction, CO	3	0.85	12.03	66.15
Ogden-Clearfield, UT	4	0.95	10.80	41.95
Bismarck, ND	5	4.27	10.72	46.17
Provo-Orem, UT	6	0.77	10.46	51.51
Salt Lake City, UT	7	0.49	9.68	59.84
Logan, UT-ID	8	1.55	8.75	31.98
Idaho Falls, ID	9	0.28	8.58	48.42
San Antonio, TX	10	1.36	8.25	39.59
Austin-Round Rock, TX	11	0.33	7.95	28.88
Billings, MT	12	2.57	7.94	51.04
Asheville, NC	13	0.94	7.89	54.93
Lafayette, LA	14	2.95	7.55	40.95
Huntsville, AL	15	2.73	7.34	33.66
Longview, WA	16	4.60	7.32	57.02
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	17	1.87	7.31	32.90
Scranton-Wikes-Barre, PA	18	1.71	7.20	41.08
Spokane, WA	19	0.53	7.12	68.84
El Paso, TX	20	0.22	6.86	51.95

Source: Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight

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