Tag Archives: S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Indices

While the month-month Case Shiller Home Price Index shot up in May a record high increase (2.2 percent) in the 20-city index and a near-record (2.2 percent increase) in the narrower 10-city index it also suggested employment has less to do with the change in home prices than might otherwise have been thought.

Home prices rose sharply in May cutting the year-year drop in prices to 0.7 percent from 1.8 percent in April, Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday in its Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Prices in the 20 cities surveyed rose 2.2 percent month-month. The 10-city index also improved 2.2 percent in May, shaving the year-year decline in prices to 1.0 percent in May from 2.2 percent in April. The month-month increase fell short of the 2.3 percent gain registered in June 2004. Economists had expected the 20-city index to grow 1.2 percent in May.

In a report released Thursday, Wells Fargo's Economics Group cautioned that although the housing recovery is picking up steam, the good news needs to be placed in the larger context of a weakened market. The Housing Data Wrap-Up for June 2012 shows that even with the overall economy slowing, the recovery in the housing market seems to be picking up momentum. A mild winter boosted construction in the Northeast and Midwest during what is traditionally a slow season, giving builders more inventory to sell in the spring.

Tuesday's S&P/Case-Shiller release on home prices was labeled ""disappointing"" by a number of analysts and market participants as both the 10- and 20-city composites and eight cities set new cycle lows. With the Case-Shiller numbers failing to fit the mold of improving market conditions, several commentary notes from analysts dismissed the latest results as ""old news,"" with a two-month lag time and home price assessments based on three-month averages. S&P's index committee chairman took to the web to defend the Case-Shiller report against naysayers.

Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday that it's closely watched Case-Shiller index declined in January for the fifth straight month. But according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBREC), that's stale news and doesn't reflect what's actually happening in the market right now. In fact, the independent research company says home prices are rising. JBREC conducted its own analysis of home prices in 97 markets and found that over the January-to-March period prices are up in 90 of them, with an average increase of 1.1 percent.

All three headline composites of the S&P/Case Shiller Index ended 2011 at new lows. The national composite fell by 3.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 and was down 4.0 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2010. Both the 10- and 20-city composites fell by 1.1 percent in December over November, and posted annual returns of -3.9 percent and -4.0 percent versus December 2010, respectively. With these latest data, all three composites are at their lowest levels since the housing crisis began in mid-2006.

Data released Tuesday morning by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller home price index showed declines in November of 3.6 percent for the 10-city composite and 3.7 percent for the 20-city composite when compared to price levels from a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a year-over-year drop in the range of 3.2 to 3.4 percent. Eighteen cities were in negative territory. Detroit and Washington, D.C. were the only exceptions. At -11.8 percent Atlanta continued to post the lowest annual return.

Data released last week by Standard & Poor's indicates the fourth quarter of 2011 started with broad-based declines in home prices. The 20-city composite of S&P's closely watched Case-Shiller index was down 1.2 percent in October versus September. Home prices dropped in 19 of the 20 cities covered by the S&P/Case-Shiller Index. Phoenix was the only metro to see a month-over-month increase. Looking at the year-over-year comparisons, S&P says home prices are down more than 3 percent.

The national reading of Standard & Poor's closely watched Case-Shiller index registered a 3.9 percent decline during the third quarter of this year when compared to the same period in 2010. That's an improvement over the 5.8 percent decline posted in the second quarter, but S&P described home prices as weakening as the third quarter came to an end. The national index rose by only 0.1 percent from the second quarter. Three cities posted new index lows as of the end of September - Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

In the second quarter of 2011, single-family home prices fell 5.9 percent on an annual basis, according to the latest national Fiserv Case-Shiller home price indexes released Wednesday. This continuation of the double-dip that started in 2010 is not the end, according to Fiserv. In fact, the company predicts prices will continue to fall into the coming year -- dropping another 3.6 percent by the first half of 2012. However, Fiserv does see a light at the end of the tunnel.