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The Applied Analytics division of Florida-based ""Lender Processing Services, Inc."":http://www.lpsvcs.com recently introduced the LPS Home Price Index (HPI).
[IMAGE]The LPS HPI shows historical price trends for residential properties in the United States, offering estimates of property values that underlie residential mortgage portfolios and securities.
The new tool is a reliable way to estimate borrower stress, negative equity, and potential for default and loss, according to LPS.
""With multiple economic issues pressuring local home prices, it's more important than ever that mortgage
[COLUMN_BREAK]industry professionals have an accurate understanding of the property values collateralizing loans in their portfolios,"" said Dan Berman, president of LPS Applied Analytics.
""It's not feasible to order updated appraisals or even Automated Valuation Model (AVM) reports for every property represented in a portfolio, but the LPS Home Price Index is a cost-effective means of estimating current property value, risk of loss, and borrower stress,"" Berman explained.
The LPS HPI offers broad coverage with high geographic resolution and comprises more than 13,000 ZIP codes nationwide, including many in non-disclosure states.
Within each ZIP code, the LPS HPI provides five price tiers to show price range and patterns of change for entry-level homes, high-end homes, and homes in the middle market.
REO discounts down to the ZIP code level are also provided and used to correct for distortions that occur when REO sales are included in HPI calculations.
Two LPS data repositories, SiteX Real Estate and McDash Loan Data, provide data for approximately 75 percent of U.S. properties nationwide with 98 percent indexed at the ZIP code level. LPS owns and maintains these repositories, which allows the LPS HPI to show market trends up to two months before other indices, according to the company.
