'Real-time' national housing stats debut

With so many housing stats reports out there it can be hard to keep up while also reconciling the differences between each source's reporting methods, statistical timetables and sources of original information.

The latest statistical report to hit the newsstands is from Altos Research and Real IQ. This new monthly report joins those from OFHEO and Case Shiller, to name a few. But these existing reports have serious lag time from the time the data is collected and the time of release, Altos points out, which is why they're adding another one to the mix.

The differentiator with the Altos Real IQ report is that it's offering more timely data.

"Real estate information tends to be highly latent and subject to a lot of revisions," said Michael Simonsen CEO and co-founder of Altos Research. "It takes several months before the S&P/Case Shiller Index or the OFHEO data is released for a given month. When you're making investment decisions or trading derivatives these lag times are simply killers."

The report looks at 20 major metro markets and publishes key stats about pricing and supply and demand trends, while drawing conclusions about what's happening in local markets.

Current MSAs covered include: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.

The first report can be downloaded here.

Simonsen recently appeared on InmanTV to discuss the various ways brokers and agents can use market data as Web content for their prospective clients. Watch the video here.

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