http://www.WBCRE.com

And when you look at Phoenix and Vegas, two other bubble markets, the median price is down to $225,000 and $190,000 respectively. That is a price that two adults working full time can afford. The median price last year in Vegas was $300,000. Sure, there are parts of the country in California and Florida that have a lot further to fall IMO.

However, I think your headline does not reflect the fact that probably half of the country has hit a bottom in real estate, and much of the other half doesn’t have much further to fall.

“Jun 24 2008 6:00PM EDT
After the Bust At ground zero of the housing slump, no turnaround is in sight.”

It’s pathetic how much cheerleading is going on today. Every other segment is “Could this be the bottom?” I guess it is, well, until the next bottom gets made.

So much for “fast, actionable, UNBIASED.”

Would be interesting to see how MLS listing prices track Case/Schiller. My limited research indicates list prices are in Fantasyland (also a place in CA and FL)

Example: I started looking at property in CA just to get an idea of where things stood. The listing prices haven’t changed much in the last 2 years. Records indicate transactions (volume) are way down.

If you talk to a Realtor it is pretty clear the list price is complete BS. Which leads me to believe we still have a ways to go for the market to clear.

Just can’t wait to see the carnage this causes in the CA cities property tax revenue. Muahahahahaha!

Waiting for that cheap buy in Santa Barbara County….

It could be that the data has not yet caught up with reality here.

I heard on the local news last night that Mecklenburg County is going into select depressed areas of the City and BUYING houses! I kid you not. They have spent $485K so far. Unbelievable! (I hope I dreamed that; but, I don’t think I did.)

Mecklenburg County already has a shortfall in the School budget for next year; but, still feel they need to buy properties in depressed neighborhoods within the City? Makes no sense.

The Case-Shiller indices are dropping much more than other house price measures. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo) monthly house price purchase index, for example, was down 4.6% (year-to-year) in April, while the National Association of Realtor’s median price was down 8.5%. Unfortunately, all methods devised to measure house prices have shortcomings, and it is impossible to state with any precision how much house prices are actually falling nationally or locally. During 1990-2000, the Case-Shiller 10-City Composite Index was flat, after adjusting for inflation. During 2000-06, its real value rose 78%. The index has dropped about 24% in real terms since peaking. But given the current level of unsold homes on the market, the number of foreclosures already in or about to enter the pipeline, and the run-up in prices over 2000-06, this index is likely to drop much more.
–Patrick Newport, Global Insight

The month-over-month declines in the Case-Shiller index have moderated a bit in the last couple months. Some of the moderation appears to be a real shift — though only over two months — and some of it is strictly seasonal. The month-over-month change in the 20-city composite bottomed at -2.6% in February before edging up to -2.2% in March and -1.4% in April. After running the index through a standard seasonal adjustment program, the index shows changes of -2.5% in February, -2.1% in March, and -1.8% in April… The broader coverage of subprime and Alt-A loans in the Case-Shiller index is probably one reason that the index is falling faster. This is because these types of mortgages are experiencing high rates of foreclosure, and there is some anecdotal and statistical evidence that foreclosed homes are being sold at significant discounts.
–Abiel Reinhart, J.P. Morgan

The weakness has not been contained to the bubble markets [in the S&P/Case-Shiller index]. Home prices are now falling in all 20 cities surveyed, with Charlotte being the last city to fall. On a monthly basis, prices surprisingly rose in 8 cities. However, we attribute most of unexpected increase to seasonal distortions as prices are typically higher during the spring selling season
–Michelle Meyer, Lehman Brothers

Cleveland, where prices have collapsed and given up almost all their gains this decade, led the way with a out-size 2.94% month-to-month gain [in the S&P/Case-Shiller index]. Increasingly affordable as prices in Cleveland are doubtless becoming, this jump is probably erratic and should be treated with suspicion. But modest price gains in cities such as Dallas, Charlotte/Portland are more readily believable given their favorable demographics and the increasing attraction of buying vs. renting as prices have slipped in these areas. Dallas, where prices also posted a healthy m/m gain in March, are likely benefiting from record oil prices.
–Richard Iley, BNP Paribas

Maybe the Nasdaq, but I don’t know about the Dow….