Chicago home prices posted seasonal declines in the September Case-Shiller, falling marginally from August to September and from September 2011.

By Peter Ricci

Chicago home prices continued their downward slope in the latter stages of 2012, falling 0.6 percent from August to September in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s.

Additionally, Chicago home prices fell 1.5 percent from September 2011; though prices did rise 0.7 percent in August, they have been trending negative in recent months.

Chicago Home Prices – Deviating from the Norm

Although Chicago home prices, like those of Boston, Charlotte, Cleveland and New York, were down in September (New York was also the only other city to see an annual decline), the news on the national front was uniformly positive for home prices:

• The national composite for the Case-Shiller was up 3.6 percent in 2012’s third quarter compared to 2011’s, and has risen 2.2 percent from 2012’s second quarter.
• The 10- and 20-City Composites, which collect prices from the nation’s largest metropolitan markets, were up 2.2 and 3.0 percent, respectively, with 17 of the cities posting yearly gains.
• Also, both composites were up by 0.3 percent from August to September, the sixth consecutive month of increasing home prices for both composites.

David M. Blitzer – “Housing Continues to Improve”

David M. Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, highlighted the numerous positives of the most recent Case-Shiller in his comments, and though he did highlight the traditional weakness of home prices at this time of the year, he said housing, on the whole, is improving.

“We are entering the seasonally weak part of the year,” Blitzer said. The headline figures, which are not seasonally adjusted, showed five cities with lower prices in September versus only one in August; in the seasonally adjusted data the pattern was reversed: one city fell in September versus two in August. Despite the seasons, housing continues to improve.”