Cash-Shiller Posts Positive Data; San Fran Dips Below 20 Percent For First Time In 13 Months

Case-Shiller data released this morning showed some cooling in the hottest region, San Francisco, while posting annual improvement to Boston's rate. San Fran fell below the 20 percent annual rate for the first time after 13 consecutive months of rates above 20 percent. Boston showed the only improvement to its annual rate, posting a gain of 9 percent in April which is up from the 8.3 percent posted in March.

David Blitzer, the Chairman of the Index Committee, said "Overall, prices are rising month-to-month but at a slower rate. Last year some Sunbelt cities were seeing year-over-year numbers close to 30%, now all are below 20%: Las Vegas (18.8%), Los Angeles (14.0%), Phoenix (9.8%), San Diego (15.3%) and San Francisco (18.2%). Other cities around the nation are also experiencing slower price increases".  Mr Blitzer continued with "Five cities – Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle – reported monthly gains of 2% or more. Dallas and Denver gained 1.6% and continue to set new peaks. Boston and Charlotte are less than 10% away from their peaks".   Detroit is the only city below its January 2000 level

As the chart below shows, housing prices are back to their 2004 levels:

And the individual city breakdown from the report: