Author: Tim Ellis
Tim Ellis has been analyzing the real estate market since 2005, and has been with Redfin since July 2010, currently as a Real Estate Analyst (or Real Estate Scientist, when he's feeling more punchy).
He combines an engineering background with a strong consumer-minded interest in real estate to provide a unique perspective on the real estate market.
He has also run the independently-operated Seattle-area real estate website Seattle Bubble since 2005, which is the region's most popular real estate news website.
Recent posts
April 16, 2012
It’s time (a bit past time, actually) 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. – December data is released in February).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of January:
January 2012
Month to Month: Down 0.8%
Year to Year: Down 5.4%
Prices at this level in: July 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 41.3% in 64 months
Low Tier: Under $287,174
Mid Tier: $287,174 to $465,376
Hi Tier: Over $465,376
Sixteen of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between December and January (one less than between November and December): Washington DC joined Phoenix and Miami with an increase. No data was available for Charlotte in January. Oddly, San Francisco had the largest drop at 2.5%.
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 January. Month to month, the low tier was down 0.2%, the middle tier fell 1.2%, and the high tier decreased 0.8%.
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).
Another gain here, with the best January showing since 2006, when 11 markets were increasing.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 2, 2012
It’s time (a bit past time, actually) 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. – December data is released in February).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of December:
December 2011
Month to Month: Down 1.1%
Year to Year: Down 5.2%
Prices at this level in: August 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 40.8% in 63 months
Low Tier: Under $289,982
Mid Tier: $289,982 to $474,017
Hi Tier: Over $474,017
Eighteen of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between November and December (one less than between October and November): Only Phoenix (for the third month in a row) and Miami saw an increase. This month Detrioit beat out Chicago and Atlanta for the bottom spot, falling 3.8% 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 December. Month to month, the low tier was down 0.6%, the middle tier fell 1.0%, and the high tier decreased 0.7%.
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).
Tiny improvement, better than a year ago, but worse than December 2009, when 5 cities saw an increase.
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February 13, 2012
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. – November data is released in January).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Los Angeles area (which Case-Shiller defines as LA and Orange Counties) as of November:
November 2011
Month to Month: Down 1.0%
Year to Year: Down 5.4%
Prices at this level in: August 2003
Peak month: September 2006
Change from Peak: Down 40.2% in 62 months
Low Tier: Under $293,455
Mid Tier: $293,455 to $482,454
Hi Tier: Over $482,454
Nineteen of the twenty metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller saw a decrease in their HPI between October and November (the same as between September and October): Only Phoenix saw an increase, for the second month in a row. This month Chicago bumped Atlanta out of the bottom spot, falling 3.4% 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 November. Month to month, the low tier was down 0.2%, the middle tier fell 0.3%, and the high tier decreased 1.4%.
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 five months ago, all twenty cities saw month to month gains. Now just one is not the red.
Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
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 »
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 »