Xr03-37 Has housing been a hedge against inflation in the last 20 years? To answer this question, we produced the following table, which lists the average selling price of one-family homes in all of the United States, the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West for the years 1988 to 2007, as well as the annual CPI. For the entire country and for each area, use a graphical technique to determine whether housing prices stayed ahead of inflation.

Year All Northeast Midwest South West CPI 1988 89,300 143,000 68,400 82,200 124,900 118.3 1989 94,600 147,700 73,100 85,600 138,400 124.0 1990 97,300 146,200 76,700 86,300 141,200 130.7 1991 102,700 149,300 81,000 89,800 147,400 136.2 1992 105,500 149,000 84,600 92,900 143,300 140.3 1993 109,100 149,300 87,600 95,800 144,400 144.5 1994 113,500 149,300 90,900 97,200 151,900 148.2 1995 117,000 146,500 96,500 99,200 153,600 152.4 1996 122,600 147,800 102,800 105,000 160,200 156.9 1997 129,000 152,400 108,900 111,300 169,000 160.5 1998 136,000 157,100 116,300 118,000 179,500 163.0 1999 141,200 160,700 121,600 122,100 189,400 166.6 2000 147,300 161,200 125,600 130,300 199,200 172.2 2001 156,600 169,400 132,300 139,600 211,700 177.1 2002 167,600 190,100 138,300 149,700 234,300 179.9 2003 180,200 220,300 143,700 159,700 254,700 184.0 2004 195,200 254,400 151,500 171,800 289,100 188.9 2005 219,000 281,600 168,300 181,100 340,300 195.3 2006 221,900 280,300 164,800 183,700 350,500 201.6 2007 217,900 288,100 161,400 178,800 342,500 207.3