Despite short-term fluctuations, home values nearly double every decade

The National Association of Realtors recently launched a new web site, www.HousingMarketFacts.com, as a part of a public awareness campaign to promote the possible benefits of home ownership and to counter news about the housing market slowdown, Inman News reported recently.

The new web site promotes the use of Realtors in real estate transactions, includes statistics on housing as a long-term investment, offers links to interest-rate information and Realtor.com articles, and features an "equity estimator calculator" that allows site users to enter down-payment information to estimate equity in a home over time.

In announcing the campaign, N.A.R. noted that the national median price of resale homes has increased about 6 percent per year, on average, with home values nearly doubling every decade.

While home prices generally rise in the long term, short-term pricing can be very cyclical in some markets, with periods of rapid appreciation and decline.

The association expects resale home prices to level off this year after a 1.9 percent annual drop in the national median price in 2007, and to rise 3.1 percent in 2009.

While promoting the local nature of real estate markets, the National Association of Realtors stated that "some potential home buyers are being kept on the sidelines as they react to national media reports about the housing market."