Nationally, Home Prices Went Up in the Second Quarter of 2011 According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

4 Comments

1. tim
   Posted August 30, 2011 at 10:51 am | Permalink

   I don’t believe S&P/Case- Schiller uses a price per square foot approach in their analysis. It is ‘repeat sales’ they use, which in the San Jose, California area could lead to distortions in their analysis as a significant part of the market are ‘flippers’..foreclosures that are bought, fixed up and sold at a higher price. We’re actually seeing the price per square foot drop in many areas, and yet Case/Schiller shows an increase in price.

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2. Jim the Realtor
   Posted August 30, 2011 at 1:09 pm | Permalink

   I appreciate you guys doing the work you do, and I’m glad you make it public. Your blog format is a good idea too – hopefully you are looking for feedback.

   I’d like to help:

   http://www.bubbleinfo.com/2011/08/30/case-shiller-san-diego-june-11/

   Reply
3. Ed Hamilton
   Posted August 31, 2011 at 6:32 pm | Permalink

   Home price histories inflation-adjusted can be very instructive, e.g. this from 8/27/2006 NYT
   http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/26/weekinreview/27leon_graph2.html
   which includes “Two gains in recent decades were followed by returns to levels consistent since the late 1950′s.”.
   Using Tuesday’s S&P data release, here is this history thru 2011 Q2:
   http://homepage.mac.com/ttsmyf/RealHomes.gif
   http://homepage.mac.com/ttsmyf/RD_RJShomes_PSav.html
   (Per the preceding NYT quote, I’ll note that Real Homes was unchanged over 1958-1998, but CPI-U increased by a factor of 5.6!)

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4. David Blitzer
   Posted September 1, 2011 at 8:39 am | Permalink

   Tim –
   S&P/Case-Shiller is a repeat sales index. However, the data are screened to eliminate flipper sales and other misleading information such as a sale to a related party. San Jose is not the only area seeing this kind of thing. Price per square foot has difficulties too. Declining price per square foot may reflect a shift in the mix of homes being sold rather than falling prices.

   Jim –
   Comments and suggestions for other aspects of housing that don’t receive enough coverage are welcome.

   Reply