Texas homeowners using the Real Estate Center’s 2012 MARKET REPORTS for home appraisal appeals to their local taxing authority for their new tax value should proceed with caution.  The 1st page under housing is the Home Price Index (HPI).  Put out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), those charts include data from a specific moment in time.  They are not usable now.  Real Estate Center Economist Dr. Jim Gaines said the data is NOT designed for any property or transaction-specific purpose, including tax appeals.  Dr. Gaines said “our general price indication data, like the FHFA Home Price Index data, are not really suited to specific property applications or appraisals”.   Gaines further said “individual property owners should rely on specific, local date, including recent comparable sales, rather our higher-level, aggregate information”.