Below you'll see the average sales price in ZIP codes in our metro area during the last half of 2007, as measured by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. This is just a starting point, of course -- averages hide a ton of variation in some ZIP codes, and you may find that neighborhoods that were too expensive for you last year are now right on the money.

I've included all ZIP codes that had at least 10 sales in those six months and 10 sales in the last six months of 2006. That's my usual attempt to toss out apples-to-oranges comparisons. Even so, be wary of reading too much into big price swings -- a few mansions selling in just one of the years can really skew things.

Remember, you can click on the magnifying glass to make the information larger.

A few factoids:

Number of ZIP codes with average prices ...

... under $100,000: 4

... in the $100,000s: 9

... in the $200,000s: 27

... in the $300,000s: 31

... in the $400,000: 15

... in the $500,000s: 14

... in the $600,000s: 4

... at $700,000 and above: 5

Number of ZIP codes that saw ...

... a gain in price: 42

... a loss in price: 58

... no change: 9

Number of ZIP codes that saw ...

... a gain in sales: 8

... a loss in sales: 97

... no change: 4

You can get more information about homes for sale in your price range by researching online listings or talking to an agent. Or, once you know what areas you're interested in, you can look at Metropolitan Regional Information Systems' statistics by ZIP code. There you can see the number of homes sold -- and listed -- in various price ranges.