This morning's release of the Case Shiller Home Price Index for June showed its second straight monthly increase. The last time home prices increased two months in a row was back in the Summer of 2006 at the end of the last housing boom. June's 1.4% monthly gain was also the largest monthly increase since June 2005. There's no denying that these numbers are showing considerable improvement.
Bears on the housing market will no doubt try to spin this month's report as artificially boosted by seasonal factors. While June is historically a positive month for home prices, this year's increase was right up there with the types of gains we saw back before the crash in home prices. The chart below shows the monthly change in home prices since 2000, with the red bars indicating each monthly change for the month of June. As shown, this year's increase of 1.4% ranks as the fourth best June since 2000, and above the overall average of 0.92%. So trying to dismiss this month's number as just a seasonal blip doesn't necessarily hold water.
I was hoping that the economy was finally getting better.
Posted by: Lisa Stone | August 26, 2009 at 10:15 PM