by Calculated Risk on 3/19/2010 10:15:00 AM

Here is an update on the price-to-rent ratio using the First Amercican CoreLogic price index released yesterday for house prices through January.

In October 2004, Fed economist John Krainer and researcher Chishen Wei wrote a Fed letter on price to rent ratios: House Prices and Fundamental Value. Kainer and Wei presented a price-to-rent ratio using the OFHEO house price index and the Owners' Equivalent Rent (OER) from the BLS.

The following graph uses the First American data ...

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the price to rent ratio (January 2000 = 1.0).

This suggests that house prices are still a little too high on a national basis. But it does appear that prices are much closer to the bottom than the top.

Also, OER declined slightly again in February. The price index has declined 6 of the last 8 months, although most of the declines have been very small. With rents still falling, the OER index will probably continue to decline - pushing up the price-to-rent ratio.