According to Waltham-based Global Insight, home prices in the U.S. have fallen back to historic norms, and homes aren’t being overvalued as they were in recent years.
The economic analysis firm said the number of single family homes deemed to be overvalued fell from 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 14 percent during the first quarter of 2007.
Global Insight said the price of single family homes nationwide increased in the first quarter at a rate of 2.2 percent, the weakest gain in a decade.
About half of the 317 metro areas in Global Insight’s study experienced a home price decline during the first quarter.
Areas with the greatest decline were, not surprisingly, the areas where prices had been the most inflated. Those areas included New England, California, Florida and New York.
Home prices were most resilient in the first quarter in the Pacific and mountain northwest, most of Texas and in the Carolinas, the firm said.
The House Prices in America study was a joint effort between Global Insight and National City Corp., a Cleveland-based financial holding company and banking network.
