The Case-Shiller Index from January 2000 - January 2009 shows the housing bubble well. Many believe the worst is now over.
The Case-Shiller index for May indicates that the housing market may have hit bottom in April. Home prices continued their upturn in May, with prices down only 17.1% from last year, versus 18.1% in April. Prices also increased in May versus April by a half a percentage point, the first positive monthly return on the index in three years! However, when adjusted for seasonality, the prices show a slight drop.
Nonetheless, the positive message from the data is clear. While in February we reported that all 20 metropolitan areas on the Case-Shiller index had experienced a price decline from the previous month, this month, only 5 of them did: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami, Seattle, and Los Angeles.
Despite the decreasing rate of decline, analysts still don’t expect the market to stabilize much less prices to rise until late next year at the earliest. However, the market has exceeded expectations recently- maybe it will rebound sooner as well.