If only the average American got the real news, we’d all be alot better off. We wouldn’t have to worry about the likes of a Clinton, Edwards, or Obama becoming president.

Yeah, I’ll say. Case-Schiller looks at only 20 of the largest cities, and includes jumbo properties. The list of 20 doesn’t include Houston or Philly, but does include shrinking Cleveland and not-as-big-as-thought Vegas, whose metro area has fewer people than Cincinnati’s.

I’m pretty sure OFHEO includes jumbos, but more importantly, OFHEO looks at the entire country, even very small metro areas (their report is a huge PDF for a reason). OFHEO is, I believe, by far the most comprehensive report, even compared to NAR and some others, which partially explains why it takes two months to get it out.

I don’t think there’s any dispute that the OFHEO report is considered the best and last word on what has happened in the nation’s housing market, as well as individual housing markets, in a given quarter. Anyone else is more than welcome to disagree and point to why.