Trade In Your Case-Shiller Index For Real-Time Real Estate Data Instead

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Standard & Poors released its February Case-Shiller Index this week.  The index is a home price tracker for select U.S. metro areas.

According to Case-Shiller, home values fell nationwide.

The Headlines Were Twisted To Look "Sunny"

Most of the 20 markets tracked by Case-Shiller fell in February. Only San Diego showed an increase. The other 19 Case-Shiller markets averaged a 1.23 percent decline between January and February.

However, that's not the story you might have read in the papers.

Instead, you may have seen that home values were up nationwide, citing annualized home price data. Unfortunately, data like that is mostly useless to buyers and sellers.  It's the month-to-month figures that matter.

Are home prices rising right now?  Are home prices falling right now?  These are the questions that set the tone of negotiation.  As in, "I don't care what your home was worth last year. This is what I'm offering today."

The rosier, annualized data that was highlighted in the press doesn't capture the reality of what was February 2010.

And that brings us another issue.  Even the Case-Shiller isn't the "right now".

The Flaws Of The Case-Shiller Index Exposed

For all of its popularity as a private-sector gauge of housing, the Case-Shiller Index is a broad view of housing, better suited for economists and politicians.  It does very little for the everyday homeowners.

First, the data reports on a 2-month lag.  The data we parse in May is collated from February's closing.  That's 2-plus months ago and, in real estate terms, 2-plus months is a lifetime.

Second, the Case-Shiller Index is limited to just 20 cities which, in total, represent just 9% of the U.S. population.  It's not even the 20 biggest cities, either.  Houston, Philadelphia, San Antonio and San Jose are excluded and each ranks among the country’s 10 most populous areas.

And, lastly, Case-Shiller ignores the First Rule of Real Estate -- all real estate is local. Even as the index highlights Chicago, it says nothing for how the Lincoln Park or Wrigleyville neighborhoods compare to Hinsdale.

The best real estate data is real-time real estate data.

Beat The Case-Shiller Index With Real-Time Data

Better real estate decisions start with better data.  If you live in Cincinnati, you should be getting these free weekly market reports -- no question.

If you live outside of Cincinnati and want to follow free, real-time real estate data for your market, justwith your city, state and ZIP code.  If your market is covered, I'll hook you up.