Seller givebacks not included in Home Price statistics

The Baltimore Sun reports:

Samantha Stoney bought her house in Canton for a lot less than the sellers had originally hoped to get, but the good deal didn't end with the $243,000 price. They covered most of her closing costs, too - a $10,000 incentive.

In effect, the sellers received $233,000. But that's not what got recorded in the home sales statistics.

Amid a deepening housing slump, givebacks have become increasingly common, even expected as a matter of course here and nationwide, economists and real estate agents say. And because they're unmeasured, they mask an erosion in housing prices.


These discounts are so widespread that some economists think that prices in the Baltimore area - up about 2 percent so far this year, according to official numbers - have really declined.

"They've probably been falling since late last year or early this year," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

As we've said before,those numbers that are reported are a little too rosy.What good are the numbers if they don't include everything?