December 29, 2011
It’s time for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). The Case-Shiller data is generally considered to be the most reliable measure of overall home price changes for a region, since they only consider repeat sales of homes when calculating their index, instead of looking at all the homes that sold in a given month.
For the full source data behind this post, hit the S&P/Case-Shiller website. For a more detailed explanation of how the Case-Shiller Home Price Index is calculated, check out their methodology pdf. Also remember that the data released on the last Tuesday of a given month is for the period two months prior (i.e. – October data is released in December).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of October:
October 2011
Month to Month: Down 1.5%
Year to Year: Down 4.9%
Prices at this level in: September 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 39.6% in 61 months
Low Tier: Under $296,106
Mid Tier: $296,106 to $489,450
Hi Tier: Over $489,450
Nineteen of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between September and October (vs. eighteen from August to September): Only Phoenix saw an increase. Wait, Phoenix? Yup, Phoenix. Atlanta fell the most in October (again), falling a whopping 5.0% in a single month.
Here’s a look at the latest local tiered data, back through 2000:
And here’s a closer look at the recent changes, with the vertical and horizontal axes zoomed in to show just the last year:
All three of LA’s tiers fell in October, with the high tier taking the biggest hit. Month to month, the low tier was down 0.8%, the middle tier fell 0.9%, and the high tier decreased 1.5%.
In this next chart, I’ve visualized the month to month trends of all twenty Case-Shiller-tracked cities. Green and above the horizontal axis if they were increasing in the month charted, red and below the axis if they were decreasing. I’ve excluded 2000 through 2004 since they looked largely the same as 2005 (mostly green).
Just four months ago, all twenty cities saw month to month gains. Now just one is not the red.
Read the rest of this entry »
December 6, 2011
Over on the national blog, we just posted another big analysis of hundreds of thousands of listings and sales. Here are the numbers for Los Angeles County, where winter is still a winning time to list your home for a quick sale, a better chance of selling, and a better price:
November 30, 2011
It’s time for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). The Case-Shiller data is generally considered to be the most reliable measure of overall home price changes for a region, since they only consider repeat sales of homes when calculating their index, instead of looking at all the homes that sold in a given month.
For the full source data behind this post, hit the S&P/Case-Shiller website. For a more detailed explanation of how the Case-Shiller Home Price Index is calculated, check out their methodology pdf. Also remember that the data released on the last Tuesday of a given month is for the period two months prior (i.e. – September data is released in November).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of September:
September 2011
Month to Month: Down 0.8%
Year to Year: Down 4.2%
Prices at this level in: September 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 38.7% in 60 months
Low Tier: Under $300,607
Mid Tier: $300,607 to $497,198
Hi Tier: Over $497,198
Seventeen of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between August and September (vs. eleven from July to August): Only Washington DC, New York, and Portland rose. Atlanta fell the most in September, falling a whopping 5.9% in a single month.
Here’s a look at the latest local tiered data, back through 2000:
And here’s a closer look at the recent changes, with the vertical and horizontal axes zoomed in to show just the last year:
All three of LA’s tiers fell in September, with the high tier losing the most ground. Month to month, the low tier was down 0.4%, the middle tier fell 0.4%, and the high tier decreased 1.1%.
In this next chart, I’ve visualized the month to month trends of all twenty Case-Shiller-tracked cities. Green and above the horizontal axis if they were increasing in the month charted, red and below the axis if they were decreasing. I’ve excluded 2000 through 2004 since they looked largely the same as 2005 (mostly green).
Just three months ago, all twenty cities saw month to month gains. Now only three have avoided falling into the red.
Read the rest of this entry »
November 14, 2011
Guest post by Julie Jacobson, Redfin field agent in the San Fernando Valley and LEED Green Associate
Home buying used to be all about how much home you could afford. Now it’s also about how much home you can afford to operate.
In the past, eco-friendly features were nice-to-have options that agents might mention a half hour into a home tour. As the national consumer consciousness in general
becomes a shade greener, these features that decrease water and utility bills among other operating expenses are dictating which homes some buyers will even consider.
For those of you considering selling your home or just looking to “green up,” here are a few simple ways to add value to your home and make it more appealing to green buyers, all while making it a better place to live in the meantime:
- Xeriscaping – Landscapes that include native and adapted plants use far less water, pesticides and fertilizers than grass lawns which can use on average 3,000 gallons of water a month during summer. It’s easy, relatively cheap and you can do it yourself. Most nurseries now have special sections of native plants. You don’t have to replace your lawn; it can be as simple as using native landscaping accents.
- Paint your roof white – 90 percent of American roofs are dark colored. In hot regions of the country, this can decrease the internal temperature of your home by 10 to 15 degrees and up to 50 degrees on the surface of the roof, making the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system work harder. Simply painting it white or silver can help alleviate this strain on your electric bill as well as to the electrical grid.
- Ventilate your attic – For as little as a few hundred dollars, you can mount an attic fan on your roof, which pushes hot air out of the attic. The ambient temperature in your attic can reach 150 degrees or more in warmer regions. This not only contributes to a hotter home, again forcing your HVAC system to work harder, but that excess heat leads to rot, pests, mildew and roof deterioration. You can install Dormer vents, which are passive, using just wind, or a fan which attaches to a thermostat and electrical source. There are even solar-powered vents!
- Check your attic insulation – One of the first things a home inspector looks at is the attic insulation. It makes sense, as having the proper thickness (“R value”) for your climate zone can save you 15 to 20 percent off your HVAC bill. Other insulation contributes as well, such as A/C ducts (10 to 15 percent) and walls (10 to 15 percent).
- Add in-home water filtration – At a cost as low as a few hundred dollars, an under-counter mounted water filtration system is a strong eco-friendly feature that makes a kitchen more appealing. It saves money by relying on tap water instead of expensive bottled water, and it saves the environment by reducing reliance on plastic bottles. Did you know that Americans consume enough plastic water bottles to fill 5,500 garbage trucks a day and less than 25 percent of those are recycled?
These are just a few of the hundreds of small and big ways you can make a home more eco-friendly. What are some of your tips?
October 25, 2011
It’s time for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). The Case-Shiller data is generally considered to be the most reliable measure of overall home price changes for a region, since they only consider repeat sales of homes when calculating their index, instead of looking at all the homes that sold in a given month.
For the full source data behind this post, hit the S&P/Case-Shiller website. For a more detailed explanation of how the Case-Shiller Home Price Index is calculated, check out their methodology pdf. Also remember that the data released on the last Tuesday of a given month is for the period two months prior (i.e. – August data is released in October).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of August:
August 2011
Month to Month: Down 0.4%
Year to Year: Down 3.5%
Prices at this level in: October 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 38.2% in 59 months
Low Tier: Under $302,800
Mid Tier: $302,800 to $498,018
Hi Tier: Over $498,018
Ten of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between July and August (vs. two from June to July): Phoenix and Las Vegas. Washington DC. saw the biggest increase this month, followed closely behind by Detroit and Chicago.
Here’s a look at the latest local tiered data, back through 2000:
And here’s a closer look at the recent changes, with the vertical and horizontal axes zoomed in to show just the last year:
All three of LA’s tiers fell in August. Month to month, the low tier was down 0.3%, the middle tier fell 0.3%, and the high tier decreased 0.2%.
Here’s a new chart for you. In this one, I’ve visualized the month to month trends of all twenty Case-Shiller-tracked cities. Green and above the horizontal axis if they were increasing in the month charted, red and below the axis if they were decreasing. I’ve excluded 2000 through 2004 since they looked largely the same as 2005 (mostly green).
The effects of 2009′s homebuyer tax credit are dramatically visible in this chart, as is the fairly strong spring we had this year, hitting 20 cities increasing for the first time since July 2005. However, the sudden drop-off of month-over-month gains in August’s data is interesting, since during a “normal” year we wouldn’t expect to see this many cities in the red until December or January. I think this indicates that there is still quite a bit of weakness in home prices.
Read the rest of this entry »
September 27, 2011
Before we get going with this month’s Case-Shiller post, I’d like to apologize for the lack of an update last month. Long story short, this particular duty slipped through the cracks while I was out on leave. We heard from a number of readers who were lamenting the missing post. Rest assured, we have heard you and it will not happen again!
It’s time for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). The Case-Shiller data is generally considered to be the most reliable measure of overall home price changes for a region, since they only consider repeat sales of homes when calculating their index, instead of looking at all the homes that sold in a given month.
For the full source data behind this post, hit the S&P/Case-Shiller website. For a more detailed explanation of how the Case-Shiller Home Price Index is calculated, check out their methodology pdf. Also remember that the data released on the last Tuesday of a given month is for the period two months prior (i.e. – July data is released in September).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of July:
July 2011
Month to Month: Up 0.2%
Year to Year: Down 3.5%
Prices at this level in: October 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 37.9% in 58 months
Low Tier: Under $303,331
Mid Tier: $303,331 to $496,849
Hi Tier: Over $496,849
Only two of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between June and July (vs. none from May to June): Phoenix and Las Vegas. Weirdly, Detroit saw the biggest increase, followed by Minneapolis.
Here’s a look at the latest local tiered data, back through 2000:
And here’s a closer look at the recent changes, with the vertical and horizontal axes zoomed in to show just the last year:
Las Vegas’ middle and high tiers rose in July, while the low tier lost a bit of ground. Month to month, the low tier was down 0.4%, the middle tier rose 0.1%, and the high tier increased 0.4%.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 29, 2011
It’s time for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). The Case-Shiller data is generally considered to be the most reliable measure of overall home price changes for a region, since they only consider repeat sales of homes when calculating their index, instead of looking at all the homes that sold in a given month.
For the full source data behind this post, hit the S&P/Case-Shiller website. For a more detailed explanation of how the Case-Shiller Home Price Index is calculated, check out their methodology pdf. Also remember that the data released on the last Tuesday of a given month is for the period two months prior (i.e. – May data is released in July).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of May:
May 2011
Month to Month: Up 0.5%
Year to Year: Down 3.2%
Prices at this level in: October 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 38.3% in 56 months
Low Tier: Under $301,073
Mid Tier: $301,073 to $489,946
Hi Tier: Over $489,946
Only three of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between April and May (down from 7 in April and 18 in March). Boston ousted DC for the biggest increase, gaining 2.7% on the month. Only Tampa, Las Vegas, and Detroit continued to fall.
Here’s a look at the latest local tiered data, back through 2000:
And here’s a closer look at the recent changes, with the vertical and horizontal axes zoomed in to show just the last year:
The overall index rose slightly in May, but only the high tier really gained much. Month to month, the low tier was up 0.1%, the middle tier was flat, and the high tier increased 0.7%.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 14, 2011
In case you missed it over on the corporate blog, Redfin has just launched our Android app!
(And there was much rejoicing.)
Android fans have been very, very vocal about wanting their own Redfin app, and thanks to the hard work of a crack team of engineers, the day has arrived.
Go find out more! Go! Go you crazy kids! Be free!
Photo courtesy Stéfan via Flickr.
July 8, 2011
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I spent mine lying on the couch, mewling like a sick kitten, but that’s neither here nor there.
I was a Redfin addict before I was an employee, and sometimes I forget that there’s a lot of stuff on our site that not everybody knows about. Some of these are big things, like the fact that we’re a real live brokerage with real live agents. Others are a bit nittier and grittier, like the sheer number of different ways we try to slice and dice data to share with anyone who wants it.
Example: Our LA neighborhoods and zip codes page (or see other SoCal cities). This page doesn’t get an awful lot of traffic, but it should, because it’s just obscenely useful. It basically shows you the median list price, median price per square foot, sale-to-list percentage, and number of homes for sale in the entire local area, broken down both by neighborhood name and by zip code.
You can also sort this information by any of the above columns; if you want to see every neighborhood sorted by sale-to-list percentage, just click on that column header and the data will re-sort.
And if you click on any of the neighborhood names or zip codes, we’ll show you another page with information specific to that area, including:
- New homes for sale
- Upcoming open houses
- Price-reduced homes
- Recently-sold homes
- Most expensive homes
- Least expensive homes
- And most popular (on Redfin) homes
This neighborhood/zip code profile page also gives you trend charts and graphs that you can customize and even import to your own website or blog, links to related forums posts, comparisons with other nearby areas, and profiles of area schools.
If you haven’t seen these pages, you should check them out. And if you’re already using them, you should drop us a line below to let us know what you think of them. Ideas and suggestions are always welcome! (Cruel, cutting remarks are not particularly welcome, but are taken with a stiff upper lip.)
June 29, 2011
It’s time for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). The Case-Shiller data is generally considered to be the most reliable measure of overall home price changes for a region, since they only consider repeat sales of homes when calculating their index, instead of looking at all the homes that sold in a given month.
For the full source data behind this post, hit the S&P/Case-Shiller website. For a more detailed explanation of how the Case-Shiller Home Price Index is calculated, check out their methodology pdf. Also remember that the data released on the last Tuesday of a given month is for the period two months prior (i.e. – April data is released in June).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of April:
April 2011
Month to Month: Up 0.3%
Year to Year: Down 2.1%
Prices at this level in: September 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 38.6% in 55 months
Low Tier: Under $300,411
Mid Tier: $300,411 to $487,182
Hi Tier: Over $487,182
Only seven of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between March and April (down from eighteen the previous month). The biggest increase was in Washington DC again with a solid 3.0% gain. Other markets that saw increases above 1% were San Francisco (+1.7%), Atlanta (+1.6%), Seattle (+1.6%), Denver (+1.5%), and Cleveland (+1.2%).
Here’s a look at the latest local tiered data, back through 2000:
And here’s a closer look at the recent changes, with the vertical and horizontal axes zoomed in to show just the last year:
When you break down the three separate tiers in LA, things look incredibly flat. Month to month, the low tier was up 0.1%, the middle tier was flat, and the high tier decreased 0.1%.
Read the rest of this entry »
