The S&P/CS 20-City Composite and 12 cities lead the national trend

6 Comments

1. colin
   Posted May 31, 2011 at 1:33 pm | Permalink

   Where is Houston? Thanks

   Reply
2. Dave Guarino
   Posted May 31, 2011 at 2:36 pm | Permalink

   Thanks for your comment. Texas is a non-disclosure state meaning that state laws permit property tax records to be sealed. As a result data is difficult to locate and not too reliable. In Dallas there is an active realtor’s trade association which provides the data, but not in Houston.

   Reply
3. Federico P. Glucksma
   Posted June 1, 2011 at 2:05 pm | Permalink

   I am realtor in DC, and only do downtown. How or where can I read on how DC proper market is doing instead all of DC Metro area?

   Reply
   • Maureen Maitland
     Posted June 2, 2011 at 1:43 pm | Permalink

     The S&P/Case-Shiller indices cover 20 MSAs, a National Composite, a 20-City Composite and a 10-City Composite. Twenty-two of these are published monthly, on the last Tuesday of each month. The National is published on the last Tuesday of each quarter.

     If you are looking for more regional granularity, you might find it with our partner Fiserv. Please contact ma.customerservice@fiserv.com or 866-279-3622.

     Reply
4. Dave Bittner
   Posted June 1, 2011 at 5:39 pm | Permalink

   In my opinion, “Double Dip” is an inflamatory way of looking at the data. It is obvious that from 1995 to 2006, prices soared and no one sounded the alarm. Now prices have corrected to levels that are much more reasonable and as typical of price corrections, will bounce along the bottom for a while before starting to rise. One reason for the uneven chart at the bottom of the market is that different subsections of the market must readjust to each other. Looking at the macro economics of the housing market with the micro data of home sales from month-to-month is silly and gives ammunition to the nightly to news anchors to cry that the sky is falling. What I see is a very normal readjustment of home prices from the absurdly high prices of 2006. As a real estate broker, in 2006-07, I cut my overhead as far as I could, to prepare for the obvious upcoming drop in sales and prices.

   I believe that if the news anchors would just ignore the housing market (which Jim Cramer said is only 2% of GDP) it would get back to “normal” much more quickly. Consumer confidence is the big problem right now.

   Reply
5. Peter Rigor
   Posted June 2, 2011 at 4:24 pm | Permalink

   @ David Biittner:

   I think the bigger issue is the NAR actively reporting on home sales when realtors have a vested interest in making the reports look as bullish as possible. The ill-informed and under-informed can be [and have been] easily conned by the NAR’s reports.

   Moreover, realtors routinely speak of housing “being a good investment.” Yet, the overarching majority of them have neither a sufficient academic background, nor even an Investment Advisor’s license to speak intelligently about “investments.” Many have little more than a high school diploma, a sharp smile, and an ability to sell, sell, sell.

   That realtors continue this ongoing idea about residential real estate “being a good investment” is what hurts good and normal market forces to act here. That their huge lobby persist in pushing lazy and stupid legislators to keep the silly mortgage interest credit in place isn’t much better.

   In any case, best of luck to all here.

   Reply