House Values Soared Last Year; Some Surprises Top List
Corrections & Amplifications</br></br>A TABLE accompanying an article on Friday's Home Front page incorrectly referred to the time frame for data on home appreciation. The correct time frame is the period from the first quarter of 1995 to the fourth quarter of 1997. In that period, home values in Modesto, Calif., rose 1.8%, while home values rose 2.2% in Stockton, Calif., and 2.5% in Vallejo, Calif. The table incorrectly stated that home values in those areas fell last year. (WSJ March 9, 1998)</br></br>This may seem like a flashback, but it isn't. Burt Reynolds is a movie star again. Your friends are wearing Lacoste. And your home is showing significant appreciation.</br></br>Home values rose 4.9% in 1997, well above the nation's average inflation rate of 1.7%, according to an index that tracks repeat home sales compiled by mortgage buyers Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. That means U.S. home prices have climbed faster than inflation for three straight years. The country hasn't seen such good news on the housing front since the late 1980s.</br></br>Perhaps the biggest surprise in the index was the gain posted by Flint, Mich., a gritty factory town of about 430,000 whose economic woes were chronicled in the quirky 1989 documentary "Roger & Me." With auto makers hiring again, Flint's housing prices jumped 25% last year. The median home price in Flint was $102,845, up 64% from 1990.