This Past Week's Housing Data: Good News or Bad?

It's been a busy week for housing market numbers. On Monday, NAR reported that existing home sales continued to slow in January, down 2.8 percent. New home sales were also down 5 percent from December 2005 to January 2006, the Census Bureau said. There was good news for homeowners on Wednesday from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which announced that home values are continuing to climb in 274 out of 275 metro area markets (the odd one out being Burlington, NC). And welcome news for home buyers today, with Freddie Mac's report that interest rates are down slightly this week.  Interest rates are still relatively low and homes are selling for an average of 12 percent more than they were last January.