Are home prices again breaking records? “Not really,” The Wall Street Journal real estate reporter Nick Timiraos writes.
“The National Association of Realtors‘ monthly home sales report made a big splash last week with news that median home prices in June had broken the record set in 2006 at the peak of the housing bubble, reaching a nominal high of $236,400,” he adds.
Without adjusting for inflation, the number isn’t a good gauge for comparing prices over time. Moreover, median prices skew the mix of what’s selling when used as a barometer.
“In 2009, for example, median prices plunged in part because an unusually large share of homes were selling out of foreclosure,” Timiraos explains.
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