Case-Shiller index
The 10 city Case-Shiller index of housing prices was released and real estate prices have declined in January on a year over year basis. The headline is far more alarming than the actual news but we've discussed media coverage of this issue before.
Interestingly, Charlotte North Carolina is considered one of the more favorable cities in the index, and there are many parallels with what is happening in real estate in Charlotte to the Charleston real estate market. A couple of quick points, job growth is very strong and while prices skyrocketed in some areas of the country during the past few years, reasonable and steady gains occurred in Charlotte. Those same 2 situations have been the real estate story in Charleston so while we are not a "large" enough city to be included in the index, the statistics we present each month confirm that prices have not declined in the Charleston real estate market as yet. While we still have too much inventory which might predict lower prices, it hasn't happened as yet and Charleston was ranked as the 19th strongest city for housing in a survey presented here about a month ago.
Courtesy of Marketwatch, please read, Home prices go negative for first time in 11 years, Case-Shiller price index shows prices falling in 17 of 20 cities in January by Rex Nutting.