Is the US housing slump turning Japanese?

By Xavier Bremner

The news from the U.S. housing market has been so dreary for so long that it is easy lose to perspective. The latest read on the housing market, courtesy of the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index, showed a slight 0.03% decline in March from February.

That counts as good news since the pace of decline slowed compared to previous months.

But hold on a second. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out here, prices are down some 35% from their peak in 2006 and average prices hit new lows major markets like Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Portland.

We are now six years into a housing bust that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the truly epic Japanese property blowout that started in 1990 and has not really let up.

Check out the chart above, which appeared on Barry Ritholtz's Big Picture site back in December. On the plus side, Calculated Risk notes housing experts Robert Shiller and Karl Case think home prices have finally bottomed out.

Covestor Ltd. is a registered investment advisor. Covestor licenses investment strategies from its Model Managers to establish investment models. The commentary here is provided as general and impersonal information and should not be construed as recommendations or advice. Information from Model Managers and third-party sources deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Transaction histories for Covestor models available upon request. Additional important disclosures available at http://site.covestor.com/help/disclosures. For information about Covestor and its services, go to http://covestor.com or contact Covestor Client Services at (866) 825-3005, x703.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Posted In: Markets
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!