Case-Shiller: DC Area Home Prices Decline 1.2% Year-Over-Year

• August 30th 2011

by UrbanTurf Staff

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The latest Case-Shiller report released this morning showed that home prices rose 3.6% percent nationally between the first and second quarters of 2011, but that second quarter 2011 prices represented a 5.9% drop versus second quarter prices of last year. National prices are now at 2003 levels.

In the DC area, Case-Shiller reports that home prices increased 2.3% from May to June but decreased 1.2% year-over-year.

From David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices:

“This month’s report showed mixed signals for recovery in home prices. No cities made new lows in June 2011, and the majority of cities are seeing improved annual rates…Looking across the cities, eight bottomed in 2009 and have remained above their lows. These include all the California cities plus Dallas, Denver and Washington DC, all relatively strong markets. At the other extreme, those which set new lows in 2011 include the four Sunbelt cities – Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix and Tampa – as well as the weakest of all, Detroit. These shifts suggest that we are back to regional housing markets, rather than a national housing market where everything rose and fell together.”

When considering the Case-Shiller findings, recall UrbanTurf’s position on the index. As housing market guru Jonathan Miller has pointed out, the index is really “a foundation for consumer sentiment on the housing market, not an accurate description of the current housing market.” This is because the index is based on closed sales and home price data from 5 to 7 months ago. Another thing that is important to note about Case-Shiller is that the main index only covers single-family home prices, so co-op and condo prices are not included in the analysis that is widely reported. This means that in places like DC, Chicago and New York City where condos/co-ops are prevalent, the index does not offer the most accurate picture of housing prices.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/case-shiller_dc_area_home_prices_decline_1.2_year-over-year/4069.