Shiller Data: Real home prices for 1Q of 2011 less than they were in 1979.

Like I noted in April, home prices were then in 1970s territory. Just checking some updated Shiller spreadsheets tonight, and it turns out that his real price index for 2011-1Q is indeed lower than home prices were at times during the 1970s.

Using the link in the 3rd paragraph up from the bottom on his Online Data webpage...

Real Home Price Index
1894, 123.98
1942, 68.50
1979-1Q, 121.81
1996-4Q, 106.73
2006-1Q, 198.01
2011-1Q, 118.52

As Sinbad might say, home prices be crazy.



Also of interest to some, here are some seasonal highs & lows in the infamous C-S 20-City HPI for years since 2009...

Year, Spring Low, Summer High
2009, 139.26 (Apr), 146.63 (Sep)
2010, 143.34 (Mar), 148.89 (Jul)
2011, 137.66 (Mar), ???

Remember to factor in the $8000 homebuyer tax credit that was passed in mid-February 2009, and ran all the way to April 30, 2010.

And for the NAR existing home sales data, which is month-to-month rather than a trailing 3-month average...

Year, Spring Low, Summer High
(median sales price in thousand of dollars)
2009, 166.5 (Apr), 181.8 (Jun)
2010, 164.6 (Feb), 182.9 (Jun)
2011, 156.1 (Feb), 184.3 (Jun) [so far]

I sort of expect that $184,300 median price figure for June to get revised. That's just a crazy jump from $169,300 in May. That can't be right. We might get a revision on Thursday, August 18.