Several recent articles about the state of real estate have caught our attention recently in Inman News. Major contributing columnist, Bernice Ross, has written a two part series. The first is entitled "Put a gag on Chicken Little" and the second is entitled "Where's the Beef in Home-price Reports?"

In these two articles, Dr. Ross compares and contrasts data from the S&P/Case-Shiller index upon which news media heavily rely for dramatic headlines, and the indices provided by OFHEO (the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight), NAR, and Realogy which show more moderate declines in pricing.

In today's PM issue, Inman News columnist and mortgage specialist, Matt Carter, reviews these two articles and adds his own critique regarding the price comparison indices. He points out that each has its strengths and its weaknesses. Which index to "believe" may depend on the specific local market and housing style under scrutiny.

We highly recommend that you review these articles as you seek to be better informed about the "State of Real Estate."

Another article of interest to us at newconsearch.com is titled "Debtor Nation: The Highjacking of America's Economy" which is an interview with financial analyst Michael Hudson, PhD by ACRES USA. It begins with a discussion of the sub-prime crisis and covers a number of related economic and political topics, with historical context, relevant to today's major issues. You may want to print this article for careful study.