The Case/Shiller housing index continues to show some signs of improvement as housing prices jumped 0.5% on a year over year basis. This is certainly positive news for the economy and the balance sheet recession in general, but let’s keep things in perspective here. We are looking at a price increase that is smaller than the 2009 price “rebound” so housing “recovery” calls might be a bit premature (more via S&P):
Data through June 2012, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that all three headline composites ended the second quarter of 2012 with positive annual growth rates for the first time since the summer of 2010. The national composite was up 1.2% in the second quarter of 2012 versus the second quarter of 2011, and was up 6.9% versus the first quarter of 2012. The 10- and 20-City Composites posted respective annual returns of +0.1% and +0.5% in June 2012.
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“Home prices gained in the second quarter,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at
S&P Dow Jones Indices. “In this month’s report all three composites and all 20 cities improved both in June
and through the entire second quarter of 2012. All 20 cities and both monthly Composites rose for the
second consecutive month. It would have been a third consecutive month had we not seen home prices fall
in Detroit back in April.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.
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