Clearwater Florida Don’t Put Too Much Faith In Recent Case-Shiller Index

Clearwater Florida Real Estate Market News

Clearwater Florida – The Case-Shiller Index posted awful numbers in its most recent reading. Each of the index’s 20 tracked markets showed home price deterioration between September’s and October’s respective reports. Some markets fell as much as 2.9 percent. Luckily that’s now what we are seeing here in the Clearwater Florida real estate market.

Case-Shiller October 2010

The drop in values is nothing about which to panic, however. The Case-Shiller Index is just re-reporting what we already knew. It’s a common theme with the Case-Shiller Index, actually; a trait traced to the report’s methodology. The  Index is an imperfect housing indicator with 3 inherent flaws. The first flaw is that the index makes use of a limited data set, tracking values in just 20 cities nationwide – even in our case, there’s a big difference between what’s happening in Tampa and what’s happening in Clearwater real estate and our beach communities.

That data set is then projected across the more than 3,100 other municipalities in the United States. The “national figures”, therefore, aren’t really national. The second flaw is that, even within the tracked 20 cities, not all home sales are included. This is key for us in the Clearwater Florida real estate area.

Clearwater Beach Condos aren’t Included

This Index only tracks sales of single-family, detached homes, and within that market subset, it only uses homes that are “repeat sales”. This specifically excludes sales of condominiums and multi-family homes, and new construction. As you know, we specialize in waterfront properties of which in places like Clearwater Beach Florida the majority or properties for sale are Clearwater Beach condos not single family detached homes.

Lastly, Case-Shiller Index’s third flaw is its “age”. The Case-Shiller Index reports on a 60-day delay, and the values it reports are tied to contracts written even longer ago. Sales contracts from July and August are responsible for October’s closings so when we see the Case-Shiller Index as reported in December, some of the data it’s reporting is 5 months old already. That’s too old to be relevant. Looking back at 2010, housing was at its weakest between May and August. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the most recent report shows significant weakness. Looking forward, we should expect the report to improve — especially because of how strong New Home Sales and Existing Home Sales have been since summer. The Case-Shiller Index is helpful for economists and policy-makers. It’s not much good for individual homeowners, however.

For accurate, real-time housing data, talk to a Clearwater Florida real estate agent like us instead. We can let you know exactly what’s happening in your Clearwater neighborhood.

And if you’re looking for a Clearwater Beach Realtor we’d like you to know that we are passionate about being your real estate advocate. We’re committed to delivering Results daily based on Integrity, Knowledge & Experience – helping you find the perfect Clearwater Beach condos for sale.

We’d like to be YOUR Clearwater Beach Real Estate Team!

Call Cyndee @ 727.710.8035 or Jack @ 727710.8036

Warmly,

Jack and Cyndee Haydon, Realtors (R)

Charles Rutenberg Realty

Clearwater Florida Real Estate

1545 S. Belcher Rd

Clearwater Florida 33764

727-710-8035 (Cyndee’s cell)

727-710-8036 (Jack’s cell)

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