Pioneer Title Co. is launching its own PTC Index. It is a monthly measurement of the Treasure Valley real estate market. The index combines nine critical measurements of the real estate market into a single number. Those figures are based on a custom-weighted algorithm.

The goal of the index, according to Pioneer Title, is to give industry professionals, media, and the public a sense of the market’s vitality at any given time. By measuring current data over time and against historical averages, the company hopes to provide context to the recent turbulent real estate market.

“We’ve spent more than six months creating and calibrating the PTC index,” said Tim Bundgard, president of Pioneer Title.

Culled from various private and public sources, it takes into account variables such as new home sales, days on the market and notices of default, and building permits.

“If it were human, it’d show we are having a heart attack,” Bundgard said as he pointed to the chart comparing 2005 to 2010.

The PTC Index and corresponding analysis will be published monthly on Pioneer Title’s corporate Web site, as well as PTCindex.com.

“Our hope is that real estate agents, developers, and others will find it a useful tool to add to their decision-making process,” Bundgard said.

Additionally, it will also be published in Idaho Economic Indicators, a quarterly publication of the Idaho Business Review.

Source:  IBR