Earlier this week, Kelly Bennett gave us the lowdown on the Case-Shiller home price data for November. I’m going to just add a couple of things.
First, I have updated the requisite post-peak chart, which as always can be enlarged by clicking on the image to the upper left of this entry.
Second, the chart shows that the high-priced tier of the index (composed of the most expensive one-third of homes sold during the measurement period) continued to languish as lesser-priced homes rebounded further.
And third, as Kelly noted, the Case-Shiller index produced its first positive year-over-year comparison since the price crash. This is no surprise; the median price data suggested that it would do so. But while expected, it is still a somewhat momentous event from the standpoint of historical precedent. When annual price changes have flipped from negative to positive, or vice-versa, in the past, it has often heralded a change in the long-term price trend. I wrote all about this — with requisite caveats and considerations, of course — back in November.
— RICH TOSCANO