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IPFS News Link • Housing

The Daily Data Dive: The Viewer Beware –

• davidstockmanscontracorner.com by Lee Adler

Here's how the Case Shiller Index (CSI) press release spun the data on the state of the US single family housing market today:

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 5.1% annual gain in June, unchanged from last month. The 10-City Composite posted a 4.3% annual increase, down from 4.4% the previous month.The 20-City Composite reported  a year-over-year gain of 5.1%, down from 5.3% in May.

The problem is that Case Shiller's methodology causes price suppression and severe lag. That gives the impression that the US housing market isn't in a bubble. It's a misimpression, considering that market prices on average are actually above the 2006 bubble peak. If 2006 was the top of the most extreme bubble in US history, what does that make today's higher prices?


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