TY - JOUR AU - Case,Karl E. AU - Shiller,Robert J. TI - Prices of Single Family Homes Since 1970: New Indexes for Four Cities JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 2393 PY - 1987 Y2 - September 1987 DO - 10.3386/w2393 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2393 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2393.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Karl E. Case E-Mail: N/A user is deceased Robert J. Shiller Yale University, Cowles Foundation Box 208281 30 Hillhouse Avenue New Haven, CT 06520-8281 Tel: 203/432-3708 Fax: 203/432-6167 E-Mail: robert.shiller@yale.edu AB - This paper uses data on nearly a million homes sold in four metropolitan areas -- Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco -- to construct quarterly indexes of existing home prices between 1970 and 1986. We propose and apply a new method of constructing such indexes which we call the weighted repeat sales method (WRS). We believe the results give an accurate picture of the actual rate of appreciation in home prices in the four cities. The paper explains the construction of the index, discusses the results and compares them with the National Association of Realtors data on the median price of existing single family homes for the period 1981 - 1986. ER -