04/27/2012
Housing Update
Time for my quarterly update of the housing situation in the United States, using the single-best barometer of all, existing home prices as published each month by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Other measures, such as the S&P/Case-Shiller index, are good but they don’t have the database the NAR does.
This go ‘round we look at the first quarter of the year. Spring is here so activity will no doubt pick up, as should prices, but the question is, have we finally bottomed and will the spring’s advance be sustained? The following is the national median home price.
2012
Jan. …$154,600
Feb. …$155,600
Mar. …$163,800 (preliminary)
2011
Jan. …$157,900
Feb. …$156,100
Mar. …$159,800
2010
Jan. …$164,900
Feb. …$164,600
Mar. …$169,500
2009
Jan. …$164,700
Feb. …$168,200
Mar. …$170,000
Using the NAR’s data, the median average for a full year was as follows.
2004…$185,200
2005…$219,600
2006…$221,900*
2007…$219,000
2008…$198,100
2009…$172,500
2010…$172,900
2011…$166,100
*Existing home prices peaked in July 2006 at $230,200… according to NAR. You can play around with the numbers any way you want but generally you’re talking of a ‘formal’ decline of 30%, peak to trough. That’s the national figure. Of course the damage elsewhere has been far worse.
Source: realtor.org
Wall Street History will return in two weeks.
Brian Trumbore
