Housing Recovery? Not Yet

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2010-07-28

A bunch of other housing indicators have been pointing to a weakening housing market lately, so rise in the Case Shiller index — up 1 percent compared with the previous month, and up 5 percent compared with May of '09 — was a bit of a surprise.

Even S&P, which puts out the index, doesn't seem to have much faith in the rise.

The guy who heads S&P's index committee said today:

While May’s report on its own looks somewhat positive, a broader look at home price levels over the past year still do not indicate that the housing market is in any form of sustained recovery ... Since reaching its recent trough in April 2009, the housing market has really only stabilized at this lower level.

Anyway. Here's the city-by-city list from Case Shiller:

Metro Area May 2010 Monthly Change Annual Change

Atlanta 107.82 2.0% 1.7%
Boston 155.95 1.6% 4.8%
Charlotte 116.39 0.3% -2.8%
Chicago 121.90 1.2% -1.5%
Cleveland 105.85 1.0% 3.7%
Dallas 119.93 1.5% 2.9%
Denver 128.24 0.6% 3.6%
Detroit 68.29 0.7% -2.5%
Las Vegas 102.35 -0.5% -6.5%
Los Angeles 174.67 1.7% 9.7%
Miami 146.33 0.9% 1.2%
Minneapolis 122.63 2.8% 11.6%
New York 170.45 0.8% -0.4%
Phoenix 111.00 0.9% 7.2%
Portland 147.98 1.2% 0.7%
San Diego 163.11 1.1% 12.4%
San Francisco 142.16 1.7% 18.3%
Seattle 146.82 1.2% -1.4%
Tampa 138.29 0.9% -1.5%
Washington 182.10 1.5% 7.4%
Composite 146.43 1.3% 4.6%

What the numbers mean: In the Case-Shiller index, the median price of a home in January of 2000 is equal to 100. So for the composite index, home prices are more than 40 percent higher than they were in January of 2000. The index is not adjusted for inflation.

Source: NPR News

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