President Obama’s Housing Scorecard: October 2010
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Department of the Treasury issue a monthly scorecard of key indicators of market health for the US Housing Market. It gives a longer view than most of where we’ve been and where the housing market is going.
A few stats struck me as more interesting than others.
House Price Stability is worth a look. The Case-Shiller Index showing and uptick in values while the FHFA index is flat at best. This is understandable since Case-Shiller measures only 20 very large metropolitan areas while FHFA covers the entire United States. Case-Shiller took a bigger hit since the Recession began and now is beginning to show a turnaround. FHFA will take longer to show improvement.
For more confirmation, see the chart labeled “Expectations On House Prices Have Shifted Up from 2009.
The Affordability Index appears to be the inverse of interest rates combined with lower house prices. It’s interesting that the graph goes back to as far as 2000 and you can see we are at a near all time high!
I was also heartened to see that Foreclosure Starts are on a mild downward trajectory. Foreclosures will be with us for the next several years and banks work through their inventory. This will keep prices depressed for a while longer.
Finally, it good to see Rising Home Equity and Rising Savings from Refinancing.
All in all, a nice summary of how the housing market is gradually recovering from the Recession and a good arguement that now would be a good time to purchase a home if you plan on staying there for at least a few years.
