Colorado home values on the rise
Story By: Bea Karnes
Source: AP and KOAA
U.S. home prices have posted their sharpest first-quarter decline since the government began keeping track 17 years ago. Colorado, however, bucked the trend by posting a 2.29 percent increase over the same period. In addition, the Grand Junction housing market saw the second-highest jump in the nation at 9.1 percent.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight says that overall home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter compared with last year. The index also fell 1.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, the largest quarterly price drop on record.
Prices were lower in 43 states. California and Nevada had the biggest declines. The government index is calculated by tracking mortgage loans that are bought or backed by the government-sponsored mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
