Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Charlotte home prices hit new lows in February

Charlotte-area home prices fell to new lows in February, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday.

Overall, U.S. home prices in the 20 cities tracked by the index fell 3.5 percent in February from the prior year, slightly better than the 3.9 percent drop reported for January.

Charlotte home prices dropped 1.8 percent between February 2012 and the previous year and fell .4 percent between February and January.

The index was unable to publish January statistics last month for the metropolitan area because of delays in reporting by Mecklenburg County. On Tuesday, the index said it had received the necessary data.

"The unfortunate news is that it confirms that Charlotte is one of the cities that is still reaching new lows," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices.

Charlotte was one of nine cities posting new lows since the housing market started falling in 2006, joining Atlanta, Chicago ,Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa.

The index, which tracks repeat sales, shows five cities - Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis and Phoenix - posted positive returns. Phoenix, which saw housing prices soar then crash, has posted five consecutive positive monthly returns, yet remains down more than 54 percent from its peak.

Atlanta continued its downward spiral with a 17.3 percent drop, its steepest annual drop in the index's 20-year history.

Some analysts had expected to see home prices increase. Overall, some housing statistics have suggested an improving market. Inventories are falling, as is the percentage of sales involving foreclosed homes. In Charlotte, February home sales jumped 21.8 percent from the previous year, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.

The index, which lags two months, excludes sales of new homes.

"While there might be pieces of good news in this report, such as some improvement in many annual rates of return, February 2012 data confirm that, broadly-speaking, home prices continued to decline in the early months of the year," Blitzer said in a statement.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Volume is up - pricing is down.

The market is purging

Anonymous said...

let the market clear, the banks are holding back millions of homes whcih they have in inventory from foreclosures and until these are released prices meander lower

Anonymous said...

As the big banks go, so goes Charlotte and the big banks 'aint lookin too good these days.

Anonymous said...

The big banks are dumping their inventory this year, causing the housing market goes down in an election year. Political?

Anonymous said...

Well, folks, this is the report to look for, not all the happy news from your local Realtor.

While not perfect, this report is one of the best indicators of what is actually happening to home prices in an apple-to-apple comparison, using same home sales over a period of time.

Everything else is fluff in comparison because you have no idea what they've sold this year compared to last year.

Shamash said...

"Atlanta continued its downward spiral with a 17.3 percent drop, its lowest annual rate of decline in the index's 20-year history."

WOW, if 17.3% is their LOWEST RATE of decline, the last 20 years musta been hellacious...

Maybe their HIGHEST rate of decline?

Ghoul said...

I'm waiting on the liberals to come out and spin this as good news!

Europeanexpat said...

Maybe someone would pass it on to Assessor's office?

Anonymous said...

"Everything else is fluff in comparison because you have no idea what they've sold this year compared to last year."

Actually, The realtor association reports which the Obserever publishes year over year numbers.

Anonymous said...

Goul - how is and why would anyone spin this as good news simply because they are "Liberal". Either your house is is worth more or it is worth less regardless of your political attitudes. What a ridiculous statement

Anonymous said...

"The big banks are dumping their inventory this year, causing the housing market goes down in an election year. Political?"

The big banks let their houses go every year. They had to keep a bunch off of the market to deal with the robosigning issue. Now they are releasing them again. it doesn't have anything to do with an election year. they aren't running for office...

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:19.

The "year over year" numbers the Realtors report are not SAME SALES.

They are comparing apples to oranges.

Big difference.

Europeanexpat said...

@anon 11:21
It's not so ridiculous. During Clinton scandal liberal media were saying that lying is good for us. And recently we were told that unemployment is good for families because "people have more time for each other" and it also stimulates economy
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/jarret-unemployment-stimulates-economy/2012/02/23/id/430359

Anonymous said...

Here's a simple break-down in 5 charts that show NO housing recovery until at least 2020. All charts were sourced from BofA Merrill Lynch:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/no-housing-recovery-until-2020-5-simple-charts

Anonymous said...

i just hope there arent any politicans out there in danger of losing their homes. its ok for the people of the USA to lose their jobs, houses etc... but how silly would we look if our elected officials were held to the same standards as the people who are electing them. countries like iran and syria would get a huge laugh out of that. sleep soundly americans, no way the boys and girls in washington would let this happen on their watch.

Anonymous said...

So I'm unclear on the whole concept of borrowing more (higher taxes) while the collateral (residential real property) continues to shrink in value.

Anonymous said...

Just proves to everyone what many have been saying: The prices of homes currently selling is about 30-35% below the tax value. Many are being purchased by those that believe they can get them cheap, remodel them and sell them for a good profit. See some in my neighborhood selling for 175k and on the tax books for 260k another one 4 bedroom, 3-1/2 baths 3400sf for $180k and on the tax books for 268k and both above mentioned homes are owned by older folks that have no choice but sell for less. The Governments started and continues to do damage to all investors, especially with the low interest rates on investments that was made when we were working, loosing 85% of our investment and now have to sell our homes at a substantial loss. Lots of Government, very little " For the people, by the People".

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:28.

You have just seen one of the many ways to "redistribute" wealth.

Be prepared.

There's more to come...

Anonymous said...

Every Dollar added to the Government Debt is redistribution of wealth.

Anonymous said...

And the BOCC wonders why people feel the recent tax revals were fradulent....

Anonymous said...

According to the Assessor's office, my home in Steele Creek went up in value $17,000 and warranted a tax hike. I appealed that, but was denied. I guess they are using some other data that nobody else has access to. Can't imagine what that would be. When I tried to refinance, I was denied a good rate like we all hear about because the home was worth too little. I'm not an economist, but something seems wrong. And I hate the feeling of being ripped off.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I suspect the data the assessor had that nobody else had access to would be in the form of emails or private conversations between him and Ole Harry plus a few select commissioners, where they plotted how they were going to get their raises and bonuses, millions for CMS and, of course, social welfare programs for those who elect Vilma and George and who Jennifer hopes will vote for her. If the Observer had any gumption, they'd foi those emails and all other documents related to the reval,

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Charlotte Allen said...

What about the real estate market the past tow month?

Unknown said...

Real estate is steady market because in property price, changes come at regular interval and people also invest steadily in this market.

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