Case-Shiller May Numbers Continue to Show Stabilization

The Case-Shiller numbers are out for May and they continue to show a slow improvement in the overall housing market.

For May, 15 of the 20 cities managed to show either flat or monthly housing price increases. In April 9 cities were either flat or increasing. Even the cities showing declining prices are doing so at a decreasing rate.

Here is the summary chart from the Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics blog.

(About the numbers: The Case Shiller indices have a base value of 100 in January 2000. So a current index value of 150 translates to a 50% appreciation rate since January 2000 for a typical home located within the metro market.)

I think it’s fair to take this as a positive development. Sure, it’s the summer selling season and there is a bit of a buyer frenzy in some markets, particularly at the lower end where most foreclosures have occurred, but the free fall we’ve seen over the past year or more isn’t evident. There may be setbacks as we get further into the year and the middle to high end of the market may still have more room to decline but prices do seem to be bouncing somewhere near a bottom.

Having said that, bouncing bottoms might be our future for some time. It’s hard to see much of a rebound in prices.

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About Tom Lindmark 401 Articles

I’m not sure that credentials mean much when it comes to writing about things but people seem to want to see them, so briefly here are mine. I have an undergraduate degree in economics from an undistinguished Midwestern university and masters in international business from an equally undistinguished Southwestern University. I spent a number of years working for large banks lending to lots of different industries. For the past few years, I’ve been engaged in real estate finance – primarily for commercial projects. Like a lot of other finance guys, I’m looking for a job at this point in time.

Given all of that, I suggest that you take what I write with the appropriate grain of salt. I try and figure out what’s behind the news but suspect that I’m often delusional. Nevertheless, I keep throwing things out there and occasionally it sticks. I do read the comments that readers leave and to the extent I can reply to them. I also reply to all emails so feel free to contact me if you want to discuss something at more length. Oh, I also have a very thick skin, so if you disagree feel free to say so.

Enjoy what I write and let me know when I’m off base – I probably won’t agree with you but don’t be shy.

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