It has been announced that Florida will become the first state in the country to receive its own home sales price index, which will hopefully offer a more accurate measure of the recovering property market in the area.
The index will operate on a similar basis to that already run by Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller, which reports figures from across the county, and it is believed that the Florida-based index will launch in September of this year.
Designed after years of complaints from realtors who believed that the method of reporting monthly median house sales prices did not offer a true reflection of values as they increased and decreased, it is hoped that the new index will give a better idea of property values in the state. Currently, the median can be thrown out if a property sells for a particularly high amount or if a large number of distressed properties are on the market.
A past president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches said: "This is definitely the thing we've been waiting for and it will be much more reflective of what process are doing. It's truly something we've needed." Walter Moloney, National Association of Realtors spokesman, added: "All of the measures have strengths and weaknesses, but a repeat sales index is probably better than a median price on an aggregate basis. We're looking at developing one on a national level but it's not quite ready for prime time yet."
The overall goal is to find a better way to measure real estate sales in the state that are more reflective of the true picture of the market.
