Home Prices Up Slightly in November

There are mixed feelings within the community concerning the Housing Prices. According to data released Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index the recovery in the housing market is struggling to stay alive. In November on a seasonally adjusted basis, Home prices were just able to create a 0.2 percent gain. David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S.&P. declared in a statement, “There is no clear sign of a sustained, broad-based recovery.” A second index, compiled by the government using different data, showed a significantly healthier market. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday that its index rose 0.7 percent in November from the previous month, however the October data was revised downward. On the other hand, a third national housing index, released last week by the data firm First American CoreLogic, showed a decline of 0.2 percent in November. However, the pricing data lags the sales data by one month. November home sales were unusually strong because of the rush to take advantage of the government’s tax credit. But December sales, released Monday, fell sharply. That is leading analysts to believe that the long-anticipated winter slowdown has probably begun, even if it is not yet reflected in the data.“We expect home price deflation to resume in the December or January Case-Shiller indices and continue through 2010,” Zelman & Associates wrote in a research note. However, prices in 15 of the 20-city composite cities rose in November from the previous month, while 5 fell, including Chicago, Miami and New York.