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40 IS THE STRONGEST PART OF THE HOUSING RECOVERY OVER? Many of the nation's major metros reported slowdowns—and even retreats—in home price gains last quarter, but those weren't enough to keep 2013 from being the strongest year for house prices in nearly a decade. S&P Dow Jones Indices released in Febru- ary its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for December, showing national prices up 11.3 percent as of year-end, a slight pickup over the previous quarter's annual improvement of 11.2 percent. e national index covers all nine U.S. census divisions. While prices were strong in Q 4 compared to the previous year, they were down relative to Q 3, dropping 0.3 percent. "e S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index ended its best year since 2005," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "However, gains are slowing from month-to-month and the strongest part of the recovery in home values may be over." Blitzer also pointed out there are other factors to consider when looking at the big picture. "Recent economic reports suggest a bleaker picture for housing," he said, citing weak num- bers in existing-home sales and new construc- tion. "Some of the weakness reflects the cold weather in much of the country. However, higher home prices and mortgage rates are taking a toll on affordability." For just December, the smaller 10- and 20-city composites were little changed, with only the 20-city index showing a minor decline. Year-over-year, the 10- and 20-city indices posted gains of 13.6 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively, approximately 30 basis points lower than their November increases. As of December, average home prices across the United States were back to mid-2004 levels, remaining down about 20 percent from their peaks in summer of 2006. A few cities stood out in the most recent re- port. According to Dow Jones Indices, Chicago posted its highest annual return since December 1988, while Dallas climbed to another new peak with its largest annual gain since its inception in 2000. Denver, which set an all-time high as recently as last September, reported a 0.1 percent monthly drop in home prices, bringing it down 0.7 percent from its peak. Phoenix, coming off of more than two years of consecutive monthly gains, posted a 0.3 percent price drop, its largest since March 2011. Year-over-year, all 20 cities tracked showed positive growth. Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco all posted improvements of more than 20 percent, though they also showed lower annual rates compared to November. At the same time, most of the cities ranked at the bottom in terms of annual growth—in- cluding Denver, Washington, D.C., and New York—experienced acceleration in home prices. NEW PLATFORM HELPS APPRAISAL GROUP IN EFFICIENCY, PRODUCTIVITY Global DMS, a provider of Web-based compliant valuation management software, announced that Forsythe Appraisals, LLC, the largest independent provider of residen- tial real estate appraisals in the United States, is leveraging the eTrac Enterprise platform. e platform is expected to help man- age appraisal ordering, tracking, and review for all of Forsyth Appraisals branch offices covering 40 major metropolitan areas across the country. "Since implementing Global DMS' plat- form, we have realized very measurable gains in efficiency, productivity and tracking while reducing our IT spend using their compre- hensive Web-based appraisal management technology," commented John Forsythe, president and CEO of Forsythe Appraisals. "While our proprietary platform worked very well, we saw greater efficiencies in Global DMS' platform and how it meshed with our specific workflows and internal processes. Our users love the system and find it has made a big difference in how they do their jobs." Global DMS' eTrac Enterprise solution automated Forsythe Appraisals' workflow, facilitated client and branch-level communi- cations, monitored order status, and handled review and fulfillment while providing all the essential reporting and accounting functions for its appraisal transactions. "e considerable changes required to upgrade their proprietary platform would have been expensive and extensive," stated Vladimir Bien-Aime, president and CEO of Global DMS. "Our solution currently processes thousands of appraisal transactions monthly for Forsythe Appraisals and has already helped improve performance, increase margins and position the company for scal- able growth." Home sales in 11 West Coast markets fell 13.4 percent in February from the year before, hitting a five-year low in the first two months of the year reported Redfin. KNOW THIS

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