HOME PRICES UP AGAIN

If you're in the market for a newhome, you probably already knowthat housing prices are climbing at asteady rate. One spot of good news,according to the National Associationof Realtors, is that the rate ofincrease is slowing a bit, from an8.4% year-over-year increase in thefourth quarter of 2002 to a 7% bumpin the first quarter of this year. Themedian home price nationwide in thefirst quarter was $161,500, but pricesrange through a huge spectrum, dependingon locality. In Boston, themedian cost of a home was $413,500,compared with $153,400 in Philadelphia.Bargain hunters have bid upprices in Philadelphia, where themedian price is 25.7% higher thanlast year, and in other towns thatmissed the big run up in home prices,including New Haven, Conn, andPortland, Me.