Shiller Home Price Index: Las Vegas-Miami Death Match

The May report(.pdf) on the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index shows nine new all-time records for annual price declines, ten areas with double-digit drops, and seven areas with losses exceeding 20 percent.

The 10-City Composite posted a new record decline of 16.9 percent and the 20-City Composite recorded a record drop of 15.8 percent paced by Las Vegas and Miami, two former housing bubble hotspots that now appear to be in some sort of death match with both losing badly.

Phoenix looks likes it wants to get in there too and "mix it up".

David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's, noted:

The overall real estate market continued to slide in May, with the 10-City and 20 City Composites declining by 1.0% and 0.9% for the month, respectively. Since August 2006, there has not been one month where we have seen overall price increases, as measured by the two Composites. Regional patterns stand out: the Sunbelt led by Miami, Tampa, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles saw the biggest booms and now see the largest declines. The Northeast, including Boston and New York, is cyclical but less volatile while the Midwest, paced by Detroit and Cleveland face difficult local economies. One possible bright spot is that seven MSAs, while still negative, showed some improvement in their annual figures over those reported last month. Looking at the monthly statistics, seven of the 20 metro areas were positive for the May/April reading.

Note the reordering of labels in the chart at the top of this post that correspond to the top-to-bottom position at the right of the chart. Washington D.C. has now held its post-2000 gains the best, followed by Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, with Miami losing ground fast.

Seattle and Portland have also surged ahead of more bubbly areas such as San Diego and San Francisco.

Comments

[sorgmot:]

A wealth implosion beyond discription or comprehension. Once you get 50% down you will have the same level of damage the former Pres Bush visited on New England.

2008 Jul 30 09:05 AM