Case-Shiller Index Shows Prices Falling Nationally, and In LA

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We try not to be too stat-happy here, but the Case-Shiller index is our favorite housing price statistic, because it is the only one that uses historical sales data to to measure changes in the price of a single home over time. Today it showed prices are falling both in LA and nationally.

From Inman.com: ‘A national home price index fell 1.4 percent in the first quarter compared to the same quarter last year, and a separate 20-city index dropped 1.4 percent for the month of March compared to March 2006.

‘It was the second time in the history of the index that the annual national growth rate was negative -- the first time was in 1990-91.’

The price index for Los Angeles -- which does not correlate to a dollar value -- dropped 1.4% from March 06 to March 07. Detroit and San Diego had the largest annual declines in March -- at 8.4 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

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Photo Credit: Reuters