Left: Four S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices – Percent Change From a Year Ago
Right: Two S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices – Index Monthly Levels
Broadly, across the country, home prices improved modestly in the Second Quarter of 2010. They gained relative to the previous quarter, and also against the same quarter a year ago. So stated the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index, in its latest, June report.
Its U.S. National Home Price Index rose 4.4% in the second quarter of 2010, after having fallen 2.8% in the first quarter, and was 3.6% above year-earlier levels.
Recent monthly gains have been slowing, however, both nationally and in the Boston area. This is doubtless due to the expiration of the homebuyers’ tax credit, and to continuing high levels of foreclosures and inventory.
But the news is not all bad. This is from their latest, June report:
“While the numbers are upbeat, other more recent data on home sales and mortgages point to fewer gains ahead,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “Even with concerns about near term developments, we recognize that the housing market is in better shape than this time last year.”
For the Boston area, June Index levels were up 1.2% over May, 3.4% over a year earlier, and are back to their level of October 2003.
Related Articles
- Case-Shiller: Home Price indices increase in June (calculatedriskblog.com)
- Home Prices Rise — Is It a Mirage? (curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com)
- Return of the boom? (economist.com)
- For Case-Shiller Housing Prices, October Is The “Witching Hour” (businessinsider.com)
The figure looks good. I hope the market can keep its momentum.