The cliche about real estate is "location, location, location" This can pertain to the location within the country, location within the city, and location within the neighborhood. But even when the ideal location is found, the cyclical nature of real estate is less predictable. The cyclical nature of real estate can be influenced my many factors beyond the homeowners control.

The Case/Shiller Index and Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (links to the right) are the leading barometers of national and regional property values. They use different criteria for their indices so the may have different results for similar locations.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Housing Values (released 11/25/2008)