Denver and Dallas Top Pre-crisis Home Sales

Home Prices Continue to Soar in May - REALTORS(R) Use Latest Stats to Inform Consumers Real Estate Is Back Data through May 2013, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, a leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed increases of 2.5% and 2.4% for the 10- and 20-City Composites in May versus April. Dallas and Denver reached record levels surpassing their pre-financial crisis peaks set in June 2007 and August 2006. This is the first time any city has made a new all-time high. The 10- and 20-City Composites annual returns rose slightly from April to May as they posted the best year over-year gains since March 2006. All 20 cities increased from May 2012 to May 2013 and from April 2013 to May 2013. “Home prices continue to strengthen,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Two cities set new highs, surpassing their pre-crisis levels and five cities – Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle – posted monthly gains of over three percent, also a first time event.” These record-breaking statistics reflect the message that leading industry brokers have been sending to their agents and consumers as the housing turnaround has unfolded: that now is a good time to buy. “Real estate professionals around the country have been reporting to RISMedia for several weeks how their marketplaces have been recovering, including the rise in housing prices as well as continued consumer interest in housing,” said John Featherston, CEO and Publisher of RISMedia. “Today’s S&P/Case-Shiller home price index report illustrates the extent of the housing recovery to date and validates what so many local and regional brokerage leaders have been reporting. RISMedia’s CEO Exchange, the annual independent think-tank conference for real estate brokerage owners will be examining this trend as well other issues affecting the residential real estate industry.” Commenting on more of today’s Case-Shiller report, Blitzer also noted that the Southwest and the West saw the strongest year-over-year gains as San Francisco home prices rose 24.5% followed by Las Vegas (+23.3%) and Phoenix (+20.6%). New York (+3.3%), Cleveland (+3.4%) and Washington D.C. (+6.5%) were the weakest. Monthly numbers before seasonal adjustment showed all 20 cities experienced rising prices. San Francisco (+4.3%), Chicago (+3.7%) and Atlanta (+3.4%) were the leaders. However, two cities – Cleveland and Minneapolis were down slightly after seasonal adjustment. “The overall report points to some shifts among various markets: Washington D.C. is no longer the standout leader and the eastern Sunbelt cities, Miami and Tampa, are lagging behind their western counterparts,” Blitzer said. All 20 cities showed positive monthly returns for May. Ten cities – Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle and Tampa – showed acceleration. Chicago posted an impressive monthly rate of 3.7% in May; it was higher than in April by one percentage point. Miami and Seattle had their largest monthly gains since August 2005 and April 1990, respectively. On an annual basis, all cities showed gains ranging from 3.3% to 24.5%. Twelve MSAs – Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa – posted double-digit growth. Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Francisco were the four cities to post annual increases of over 20%. Las Vegas and San Francisco accelerated as measured by their May versus April year-over-year returns. Although Atlanta and Phoenix continue to post impressive gains, their May annual rate decreased to just over 20% compared to April. Detroit showed the most deceleration with a three percentage point decline. More than 26 years of history for these data series are available, and can be accessed in full by going to www.homeprice.spdji.com.