Housing Prices Unchanged For First Time In Nearly Year: S&P/Case Shiller

NEW YORK (Leah Schnurr) - Single-family home prices were unchanged in May, the first time in nearly a year they have not fallen on a monthly basis, though prices were still down compared to a year earlier, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday.

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas held steady on a seasonally adjusted basis and in line with economists' expectations, according to a Reuters poll.

The last time the seasonally adjusted index rose month-over-month was in June 2010, shortly after the home buyer tax credit expired.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the index rose 1 percent, the second month of gains in a row, the report said.

"This is a seasonal period of stronger demand for houses, so monthly price increases are to be expected," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's, said in a statement.

"The concern is that much of the monthly gains are only seasonal."

Prices in the 20 cities fell 4.5 percent year-over-year, which was also in line with forecasts.

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Realtors Are Liars]

01:43 PM on 07/29/2011

"How To Avoid Unethical Behaviors And Dirty Tricks Of Realtors"

http://www.financenook.com/Article/How-To-Avoid-Unethical-Behaviors-And-Dirty-Tricks-Of-Realtors/7199

[VeroucaSalt]

06:05 PM on 07/27/2011

Housing prices will go back down. You can quote me on it in 2 months.

[48thGuy]

08:59 AM on 07/27/2011

How ironic we debate the value of housing on a $$$-cost basis and the importance of ownership in the same sentence. The fact is, home values continued to rise from the mid-1950s' up until the mid-2000s'. Now we're in a downward cycle and valuations will continue to slide until a house hold can comfortably afford to purchase a home. It's that simple, what goes up will eventually go down and then rise again over a period of decades based on demand. Proving once again in the long run real estate is all about demand and less about supply.

[sanfran55]

07:45 AM on 07/27/2011

I think this article is just trying to inspire confidence in the real estate market - with all the foreclosures going on, good luck. If you buy, just don't plan on selling for another 20 years, or ever.

[tobadgop]

03:35 AM on 07/27/2011

Realtors suck. Worthless mooches, collecting money for doing zilch. in the 02-06 era, they would be driving around in their BMW.s Mercedes, Caddys, cocky, telling people God is not making any more land, sucking people into fantasy investments, telling them you better pay list price, while they were drinking Starbucks.

[isee61]

10:25 PM on 07/26/2011

More houses would be sold if some of these Realtor's get off of their @$$e$ and do something. My husband and I have been looking for a house with acreage since march and the realtors are just dragging their feet. Our Realtor is on her job, but the selling agents are slow as molasses.

[Carolab]

02:57 AM on 07/27/2011

The selling agents are representing the principals, which are typically banks, if you are looking at foreclosures.  It's not the agents who are dragging their feet.  It's their principals.  I am a broker as is my husband.  My husband represents buyers looking for REO homes exclusively.

[Realtors Are Liars]

08:53 AM on 07/27/2011

Realtors are low lifes aren't they? The "Realtor code of ethics" is entirely a voluntary set of rules and never has a realtor been found guilty and paid for violating them.

They're a joke.

[Carolab]

11:34 AM on 07/27/2011

That's not true.  The Code of Ethics if violated can result in suspension or revocation of the Realtor's license.  You don't know what you are talking about.

Local associations are required to enforce the code of ethics through a Professional Standards Council or Committee. Trained members of the association form hearing panels charged with the responsibility of hearing testimony and evaluating evidence from complaints filed by the public or other members against association members for alleged violations of the code of ethics. If the panel finds the member in violation, disciplines recommended may be one or more of the following: a letter of warning or reprimand, educational courses, suspension or expulsion of membership, fines up to $5,000 and probation. All recommended disciplines by professional standards hearing panels are subject to the ratification by the association's board of directors before the discipline takes effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Realtors
In addition, there are other fines that can be levied and one can have their license revoked.

[Justan Olfrend]

07:31 PM on 07/26/2011

Deal

[DebtNavigation]

04:19 PM on 07/26/2011

The Case-Shiller statistics are largely cooked to make residential real estate look good. So if they show it as holding its own (and it's a lagging indicator too), you can be sure that what's really taking place is much, much worse. What you see is the best the ladies at the lipstick counter could do with the pig.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that residential real estate has bottomed. The bottom is a couple of years away at least. And after the bottom, you do not need to be in a hurry to get back in, we will be bumping along the bottom for a long time unless there is a significant energy breakthrough somewhere in the world. Unless and until that happens, real estate should be purchased only for your personal enjoyment, not as any sort of speculative investment.

[IndyFem]

06:02 PM on 07/26/2011

Debt....I agree about the Case-Shiller stats....and about the fact that "real estate should be purchased only for your personal enjoyment"....this is what it was all about "back in the day" and all was fine. AND many people purchased back then because they wanted stability or to become part of a particular community or maybe just wanted to have some control over rheir personal space. It wasn't an Investment Scheme. I am anxious for things to go back to reality.

[Realtors Are Liars]

07:01 PM on 07/26/2011

"I am anxious for things to go back to reality."

No you're not. You're here championing grossly inflated housing prices every single day.

[onionboy]

06:30 PM on 07/26/2011

Fanned for that last sentence. Real estate is usually not a good investment. Some can do it. Most can't. Those years when it seemed unbeatable were an aberration...as we've seen. Personally, it's not for me, and I'll only buy for the purpose of having a residence.

[Realtors Are Liars]

03:06 PM on 07/26/2011

Prices are down 16% year over year per CoreLogic.

Why buy a house today when you can buy later for 50% less?

[srooge]

02:12 PM on 07/26/2011

Why would you spend a third of your life as a slave to the banking industry? When you die you can't be buried in it. It's the only manufactured product I know of that does not depreciated in value. Common sense tell me it's all one big scam.

[IndyFem]

06:03 PM on 07/26/2011

Owning a home is a scam???

[Realtors Are Liars]

07:02 PM on 07/26/2011

No. Those who sell houses are scammers.

[eelo1]

01:27 PM on 07/26/2011

Hey Huffpo with the millions of people out of work,and the millions who have been foreclosed on where are all the sad stories about the plight of the homeless??Could it be that it is because the media only writes about this issue when a republican is in the whitehouse

[onionboy]

01:16 PM on 07/26/2011

The banks over-lent, but they also lent for over-priced properties in the first place. Over-priced properties sold for cash during the boom-bust too. The continuing problem is that there was and is no advocate for the buyer in terms of keeping the price of the property fair. Once upon a time, you might have expected the appraiser did that. So many now are just become tools for realtors. Realtors stop calling the appraisers who don't give them what they want. And one's own real estate agent has no vested financial interest in having you buy your property for less money. I'm not saying they're all crooked, just that they have a conflict of interest. Financially, their benefit is getting your repeat business or getting good word of mouth references from you. But those are long term goals, and greedy agents don't think long term. A buyer really has no advocate in the buying process who is financially vested in them getting a cheaper property sale.

Bottom line, a buyer needs to be cheap cheap cheap about everything when buying and needs to try to get every nickel out of the seller (closing cost refunds, inspection costs, etc.)...because that's the only way to keep it fair. On the other side of the equation, there are multiple people who benefit from the property being sold for more, and they're working to do so.

[Justan Olfrend]

01:56 PM on 07/26/2011

So. By your logic, no seller should ever expect a Realtor to get the best price for them? Realtors don't have power over appraisers. The appraiser is preparing that document for the bank. The appraisal is ordered to get loan approval. The fact is that the appraiser needs to have a firewall between them and banking just like the firewall between Realty and Banking.

[onionboy]

02:36 PM on 07/26/2011

I'm saying that my realtor has a conflict when it comes to getting me the lowest possible price.

As for realtors not having power over appraisers, speak to an appraiser who went out of business during the boom because the phone stopped ringing. In a perfect world, your firewall exists. But if it had been around the last 10-15 years, we would not have had the boom-crash we did. Realtors push their own information on "comparable" properties, they throw fits, threaten lawsuits, etc. Those things were actually going on, not even mentioning out and out bribes, which are always possible.

Seriously, the very idea that an appraiser looked at a 3BR home in a middle-class neighborhood and thought that $700K seemed to pass the sniff test, even though the exact same house had been appraised for $350 six years earlier, indicates to me that appraisers lost their minds or their ethics during the boom.

Bottom line, when that firewall is broken, then and even now, who is there to complain to so that the complaint will be enforced? No one, really. You're stuck with the property and there's no watchdog group that will ensure the same folks don't do the same thing again. Enforcement is about zero. So, a buyer needs to watching their own backside, even when they have faith in everyone in the deal.

[Realtors Are Liars]

03:58 PM on 07/26/2011

Realtors are the most corrupt, incompetent, unethical people on the planet.

[Julius Robesson]

04:53 PM on 07/26/2011

For at lot of no-doc loans and refis - zillow was the appraiser.

[onionboy]

05:37 PM on 07/26/2011

And when you do get screwed, and I mean legitimately defrauded by misrepresentation of the value of a property, where do you go for justice? There's really no group that will actually enforce anything. Fraud is against that law if you can prove it, but good luck. You still end up stuck with a piece of property that's under water 6 minutes after you buy it.

[HeavyHitter]

01:04 PM on 07/26/2011

Of stories related to the economy, this is the saddest of them all. The American Dream has been turned into a Kafkaesque nightmare. So many retirement plans destroyed . . . and the over-50 crowd doesn't have enough time or opportunity to recover. I have a feeling the worst is yet to come. Suffice it to say real estate will be really cheap in 2014-2015.

[GetRealSoon]

12:26 PM on 07/26/2011

The trust is lost. I don't think seasonally adjusted reports are going to restore it. Why is this news.

[rdimitrir]

12:08 PM on 07/26/2011

Private home ownership should be a thing of the past. To start with government has to take over foreclosed properties and assign them in a socially and enviromentally responsible manner

[Ed Red]

12:27 PM on 07/26/2011

Government should pick winners and losers? How about giving houses to those who go to college and graduate with honors? Give houses to those who serve 10 or more years in the military?

Reward the ones who make America stronger and better.

[onionboy]

12:58 PM on 07/26/2011

Having the government buy foreclosed properties at this time (ie, spend 100s of billions on a product that we're all sure will lose value over the coming year) is probably not such a great idea. Plus, if history is any judge (looking at other countries), the best homes will simply go to the most politically connected...no matter how much written policy says otherwise.

Your goals are commendable, but human nature will get in the way.