Radar Watching: May 2011

As I have noted in the past, since the home price index data provided by Radar Logic is more timely, unadjusted and un-smoothed it is particularly useful for gaining deeper visibility over our housing markets.

As for the latest trends, it’s important to note that the 25-MSA Composite is continuing to show significant year-over-year declines and after having broken well below the low set in March of 2009 (double-dipping) earlier this year, continues to come off the low as the typical spring transactions begin to mount.

The latest data shows that as of mid-May, prices have declined 5.55% below the level seen in May 2010 while turning up a bit since the lows seen this February.

It will be interesting to see how far the spring buying can push prices but it's important to note that this seasonal factor will likely end in early July (as reported in September) when transactions begin to trail off into the summer months.