In 1998, the number of households moving in the United States reached 16 million, up 2.6 percent from the year prior.

Additionally, the number of families choosing to relocate for business needs remained steady at approximately 3.8 million. Within a robust real estate market, relocating consumers, now more than ever, are requiring information on how much home they can afford.

According to the Home Price Comparison Index, an annual study conducted by Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation, a 2,200-sq. ft. home in the Atlanta area costs $200,375, as compared to $843,500 for a similar-sized home in Palo Alto, Calif., the HPCI's most expensive market in the nation, and $107,850 in Oklahoma City, Okla., the HPCI's most affordable market in the country.

The HPCI evaluates and indexes the average sales prices of similar homes in typical middle management transferee neighborhoods in more than 300 markets across the nation, Canada, Puerto Rico and select overseas markets.

The HPCI subject home is a single-family dwelling approximately 2,200 square feet in size with four bedrooms, two and one half baths, family room and two-car garage.

The full HPCI data can be found at www.coldwellbanker.com (click `info booth'). For the first time, the company's web site also provides an on-line index calculator. Consumers need only key in the value of their current home, pick their “to and from” markets, and the site will automatically “do the math” to figure out the home's new value in the new market.

The Home Price Comparison Index also is available in brochure format and can be obtained from Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty.

“This study is demonstrative of the economic diversity in home values across the country, showing a wide contrast in home prices between America's most affordable and most expensive markets,” said Steve Bullard, owner and president of Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty, which has six offices in the south metropolitan area of Atlanta.

“With information on nearly 350 markets throughout North America, it is an invaluable tool for homeowners deciding to relocate,” said Bullard. He added that the importance of the relocation business in today's real estate industry is increasing, particularly in the Atlanta area.

“In recent years, our own company has grown in that area to the point that we now have the largest Relocation Department in the metro south region,” he said.

According to the HPCI study, the Northeast has the highest cumulative average price for the subject home, $240,504, followed by the West, $207,113, the Midwest, $167,985, and the Southeast, $163,624. The average price of all homes surveyed rose approximately 7 percent to $231,296 as compared to $216,154 last year. The American city that came closest to the cumulative HPCI market's national average sales price is Tampa, Fla., where the average home price is $231,250.

The Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison features an index number for each market and easy-to-use formula that helps consumers quickly calculate the cost to replace their homes in another location (2,220 square feet was the base line figure used as size criteria for the HPCI subject homes. But it is possible that in certain markets, the sizes of the subject homes varied.).

Consumers can get their free copy of the 1999 Home Price Comparison Index brochure by calling or visiting a Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty office or by going to http://www.coldwellbanker.com on the Internet.