Case Shiller: Nationwide Home Prices Up 7.3 Percent

• February 26, 2013
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by Shilpi Paul

Home prices in the DC area increased by 5.8 percent between December 2011 and December 2012, according to the Case-Shiller report released this morning. Nationally, prices rose 7.3 percent year-over-year, the biggest jump since 2006.

Seasonally adjusted, home prices rose 0.8 percent between November and December 2012 in the DC area, and 2.0 percent nationally over the same period.

Case-Shiller December 2012

From the report:

As of December 2012, average home prices across the United States for the 10-City and 20-City Composites are back to their autumn 2003 levels. Eleven cities declined with Chicago posting the largest negative monthly return of 0.7%. Atlanta and Detroit remain the only three cities with average home prices below their January 2000 levels.

Between November and December, home prices in DC increased in every tier measured by the index: the low tier (homes under $285,369), the middle tier (homes between $285,369 and $456,464) and high tier (above $456,464).

David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, on today’ numbers:

In December’s report all three headline composites and 19 of the 20 cities gained over their levels of a year ago. The National Composite increased 7.3% over the four quarters of 2012. The 10- and 20-City Composites, which bottomed out in March 2012 continued to show both year-over-year and monthly gains in December. These movements, combined with other housing data, suggest that while housing is on the upswing some of the strongest numbers may have already been seen.

The Case-Shiller Disclaimer

When considering the Case-Shiller findings, recall that the index is based on closed sales and home price data from several months ago. (A better indicator of where area prices stand right now is the February report from RealEstate Business Intelligence.) Another thing that is important to note is that the main index only covers single-family home prices, so co-op and condo prices are not included in the analysis that is widely reported. Chicago and New York City are two of the cities where Case-Shiller provides a separate index for condo prices, but DC does not have a similar index.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly when considering the conclusions of the index, the area covered by Case-Shiller can only very loosely be described as the “DC area”. According to the site, the following cities are included: DC, Calvert MD, Charles MD, Frederick MD, Montgomery MD, Prince Georges MD, Alexandria City VA, Arlington VA, Clarke VA, Fairfax VA, Fairfax City VA, Falls Church City VA, Fauquier VA, Fredericksburg City VA, Loudoun VA, Manassas City VA, Manassas Park City VA, Prince William VA, Spotsylvania VA, Stafford VA, Warren VA, Jefferson WV.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/case_shiller_nationwide_home_prices_up_7.3_percent/6710

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