Monday, March 29, 2010

More Pain, Less Gain: S&P/Case-Shiller Preview for January 2010

As I demonstrated in prior posts, given their strong correlation, the home price indices provided daily by Radar Logic, averaged monthly, can effectively be used as a preview of the monthly S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices.

The current Radar Logic 25 MSA Composite data reported on residential real estate transactions (condos, multi and single family homes) that settled as late as January 25 indicates that the price bounce seen as a result of the government's housing tax credit peaked in August and has since steadily trended down showing a 2.9% decline since December 2009.

Look for tomorrow's S&P/Case-Shiller home price report to reflect essentially the same trend showing a notable monthly decline as prices head for another strike at last years cycle low.