Case-Shiller: Home Prices Rise 5.5 Percent Nationally

• January 29th 2013

by UrbanTurf Staff

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On Tuesday morning, Case-Shiller reported that home prices increased by 5.5 percent between November 2011 and November 2012 in their 20-city index. In DC, prices fell slightly on a monthly basis (-0.6%), but rose 4.4 percent annually. In what is becoming a trend, Phoenix led the way in terms of increases with prices jumping 22.8 percent year-over-year. (San Francisco showed the second highest annual increases, with a 12.7 percent jump.)

Between October and November, home prices in DC proper increased slightly in the low (under $293,756) and middle tier (homes between $293,756 and $457,827), while remaining flat in the high tier (above $457,827).

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

“The November monthly figures were stronger than October, with 10 cities seeing rising prices versus seven the month before. Housing is clearly recovering. Prices are rising as are both new and existing home sales. Existing home sales in November were 5.0 million, highest since November 2009. New home sales at 398,000 were the highest since June 2010. “

While news of recent months regarding housing prices has largely been positive, the increases should be kept in perspective. Both the 10-city and 20-city Case-Shiller indices remain about 30 percent lower than their peaks in 2006.

The Case-Shiller Disclaimer

When considering the Case-Shiller findings, recall that the index is based on closed sales and home price data from several months ago (evidenced by the fact that this month’s report is about sales and price data from November). As such, the reported statistics are a better gauge of consumer sentiment, rather than what is going on in the market right now. A better indicator of where area prices stand currently is the December report from RealEstate Business Intelligence. Another thing that is important to note 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. Chicago and New York City are two of the cities where Case-Shiller provides a separate index for condo prices, but DC does not have a similar index.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly when considering the conclusions of the index, the region covered by Case-Shiller can only very loosely be described as the “DC area”. According to the site, the following cities are included: DC, Calvert MD, Charles MD, Frederick MD, Montgomery MD, Prince Georges MD, Alexandria City VA, Arlington VA, Clarke VA, Fairfax VA, Fairfax City VA, Falls Church City VA, Fauquier VA, Fredericksburg City VA, Loudoun VA, Manassas City VA, Manassas Park City VA, Prince William VA, Spotsylvania VA, Stafford VA, Warren VA, Jefferson WV.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/case-shiller_home_prices_rise_5.5_percent_nationally/6579.