The April S&P/CaseShiller 20 city home price index fell 18.12% y/o/y but was better than the forecasted drop of a fall of 18.63%. It’s the smallest rate of decline since Oct ’08. The fall off the high in July ’06 is now 32.6% up from 32.2% in March. All 20 cities still have y/o/y drops but 8 cities saw rises on a m/o/m basis with Dallas leading that gain, rising 1.74% with Denver a close second. The y/o/y drops continue to be most apparent in the cities with high foreclosure rates like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami. Unlike the FHFA data, CaseShiller does include homes with jumbo and subprime mortgages and but is less geographically diverse. The April data does capture the moratoriums that many banks had on foreclosures and this thus cushioned the price declines. With many now having expired and mortgage rates higher, the data through the summer will be most relevant.
