Higher and Higher

Existing-home prices increased 9.36 percent from the second quarter of 2003 through the second quarter of 2004, according to the quarterly House Price Index, published by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). That gain, says Patrick Lawler, OFHEO’s chief economist, is the largest year-over-year increase in 25 years. No doubt it was buoyed by double-digit jumps in some areas of the country: Prices in Las Vegas were up nearly 25 percent.