The Case-Shiller index can sometimes overstate the magnitude of price increases because it includes foreclosures.
So my guess is that Ben Bernanke is terrorized by the Case-Shiller Index.
To see why, take a look at the Case-Shiller Index for 20 United States metropolitan areas from 2000 until now.
The Case-Shiller index is calculated from changes in prices on individual homes as they are resold during a moving three-month period.
The Case-Shiller index reached a bottom last March, which means the year-over-year comparisons could begin to show less dramatic growth in the months ahead.
Use the Case-Shiller index, where the affordability of housing worsened sharply during the boom, and mortgage payments are still high in relation to incomes.
Of the 20 cities tracked by the Case-Shiller index, only New York saw a moderate fall in house prices since a year earlier, down 1.2%.
The Case-Shiller index doesn't include co-op and condo sales, he noted.
House prices were 5.5% up on a year ago, according to the widely-watched Case-Shiller index, the fastest rise since the market crash began in 2006.
And while home prices, as measured by the Case-Shiller index, have risen for the last eight months, they are still nearly 30% off their mid-2006 peak.
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Certainly not as steep or as deep as some of the declines we've had there but, you know, you look at something like the Case-Shiller Index, for example.
Prices rose from one year earlier in all 20 cities measured by the Case-Shiller index, with the largest gains in the West or in markets pummeled by the housing bust.
Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow, a real estate data provider, said that the increase in the Case-Shiller index has been skewed higher by cities such as Phoenix and San Francisco.
That's not much, but in places like Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas, homes have lost about a quarter of their value in the same amount of time, according to the Case-Shiller index.
The Fiserv Case-Shiller Index, which measures price changes in single-family homes in over 375 U.S. metropolitan markets, estimates that home prices have already leveled out in one out of four metro U.S. areas, despite price declines of 1.5% in the third quarter of 2010.
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Forecasts for both variants of the Case-Shiller Index are based on the current Zillow Home Value Index value for July, which we released as part of our Real Estate Market Reports a couple weeks ago, the June Case-Shiller home indices numbers and the national percentage for foreclosure re-sales in July , which can be found in the Zillow real estate market reports.
And judging by the price of futures contracts based on the Case-Shiller composite index, investors expect house prices to fall further.
The creator of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Robert Shiller, recently said that he was optimistic that home prices could fall for the next 20 years.
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U.S. economic data due for release Tuesday includes the weekly Goldman Sachs chain store sales index, the weekly Johnson Redbook retail sales report, the Case-Shiller home price index, the consumer confidence index, new residential home sales and the Richmond Fed business activity survey.
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Actually, the Case-Shiller home price index rose even more dramatically, with some years showing 15 percent bump-ups.
This week it has been the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which showed home prices fell again in March.
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Tuesday brings the Case-Shiller Home Price Index and consumer confidence numbers, followed by the ADP Employment Report and factory orders on Wednesday.
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The widely followed Case-Shiller home price index hit fresh lows again.
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The Case-Shiller Home Price index this morning will be released at 9.
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We also get more information on the housing market, with the Case-Shiller Home Price Index report Tuesday, followed by pending home sales on Wednesday.
One route is to look at market expectations: investors expect a further 20% drop, judging by the prices of futures contracts linked to the Case-Shiller 10 city index.
And the upturn in the Case Shiller Home-Price Index is being pushed along by a fresh construction boom.
America's fell by 32%, according to the Case-Shiller 20-city index.
Separate data released on Tuesday showed that the closely-watched Case Shiller index of home prices in 20 major US cities were 6.8% higher in the three months to December 2012 than they had been a year earlier.
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