Standard & Poor’s released its Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for June 2011 earlier today, reporting that home prices rose for both Chicago and the nation increased in the second quarter.
The U.S. National Home Price Index increased by 3.6 percent in the second quarter, a recovery from the 4.1 percent decline in the first quarter. For Chicago, the index was up 3.2 percent from May to June, an improvement over the already positive 1.7 percent increase from April to May.
One negative area in the new Case-Shiller, though, was year-to-year comparisons, as the index did not fare well when compared to 2010 totals. The national index was down 5.9 percent from the second quarter of 2010, while the Chicago index was down 7.4 percent. Altogether, Standard & Poor’s estimates that national home prices are now at early 2003 levels.
David M. Blitzer, the chairman of the index committee, said the mixed data suggests a shift from national housing data to regional.
“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,” Blitzer said. “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 … 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.
Interesting article – very misleading headline. Am thinking about sending this to my real estate clients with a note that you have to read the whole article when it comes to real estate news and not just the sound bite of the head line.