Housing Reports Indicate Price Stablization
Three new housing reports show housing prices have stablized for the most part across the nation.
The mixed bag of reports offered two positive signs and one negative as price measurements continue to be conflicting in many cases.
On the positive sign, the S&P/Case–Shiller report for March showed a seasonally adjusted price increase for nine of the 20 metro areas surveyed; the 10-metro index also showed prices higher than last March. The 10-city, 20-city and national C-S indexes increased 2 percent to 3 percent from the same month last year.
Also heading up was th Federal Housing Finance Agency monthly index, with prices up at an annual rate of 3 percent from February to March.
On the down side, the 20-city Case-Shiller index fell at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.6 percent in March. The report is based on an average of three months. Helping bring down the index were annualized double-digit losses in five key markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and Charlotte, N.C.
