Case-Shiller Index dated July 31, 2012 | Bedford Hills Real Estate

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses the Case-Shiller home price index.

• Case Shiller data showed that all 20 cities monitored in the monthly index saw home price gains in the month of May. This data is a 3-month rolling average, so what is reported for May is an average of transactions closed in March, April, and May.
• The Case Shiller data confirms the trend observed in other house price measures—prices improved in the spring season and while prices are occasionally still lower than they were one year ago (8 cities saw year over year decline while 12 cities saw year over year gains), the decline is much smaller than before.
• Both indexes were up 2.2 percent in May. The 10-city index was down 1 percent from a year ago while the 20-city index was down 0.7 percent.
• By city, Phoenix had the largest year over year rebound—a gain of 11.5 percent while Chicago showed the biggest monthly gains as prices advanced by 4.5 percent in May (or 2.3 percent after the seasonal adjustment).
• While Atlanta remains the only city still in double-digit decline from a year ago, May data show a rapid turnaround—a gain of 4 percent in one month. This would translate into a gain of sixty percent if that pace were to continue. Even adjusted for the typical spring price boost, the Atlanta gain was measured to be 2 percent in May which would translate into a gain of 25 percent in one year. Miami, another city that previously saw a big decline in prices was up 1.4 percent in May and 3.4 percent from May one year ago.