February Housing Update, Phoenix metro area
- The latest Case-Shiller housing index, published 1/26/11, shows Phoenix median pricing was down 1.1% this past November as compared to the previous month, and down 6.4% from November, 2009.
- In his 1/26/2011 housing update, Karl Guntermann(of ASU’s WP Carey School of Business ) says “…likely declines will continue for ….the next several months ……However….odds are 2011 will be a transitional year in the Phoenix-area housing market.”
- Buffering this negative news, Mad Money’s Jim Cramer says that the Case-Shiller home price index is “the single most pessimistic but least accurate housing metric out there,” and suggests looking the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Index or even National Association of Realtor’s existing home sales index for more “accurate” stats. On that note, in contrast to Case-Shiller’s 6.4% decline in Phoenix from 11/09 to 11/10, NAR’s figures say that Phoenix and surrounding area sale prices were only declined 3.3% (4th quarter 2010 from 4th quarter 2009).
- At odds with some housing bears, Cramer goes on to say that “when you put together all the data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency…the National Association of Realtors…. and the Census Bureau, it’s clear that the housing market’s stabilized, even improving. Certainly not getting worse.”