Major home markets' slump continues

Boston and Detroit led the way down, according to latest figures from Case Shiller Weiss. Seattle bucks the trend.

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Housing prices fell in nearly every major U.S. market in November, though some Northwest markets are bucking the trend, according to the latest numbers from Case Shiller Weiss.

Boston prices have swooned by 5 percent for the 12 months through November and Detroit was off 4.5 percent. Of 20 major cities tracked, all but three showed declines in November and seven recorded 12-month losses.

Top 20 market trends
How some major U.S. housing markets performed in November 2006.
City Change from Oct One-year change
Atlanta -0.4% 3.3%
Boston -1.8% -5.0%
Charlotte 0.3% 7.2%
Chicago -0.2% 3.5%
Cleveland -1.2% -1.9%
Dallas -0.5% 1.5%
Denver -0.7% 0.1%
Detroit -0.7% -4.5%
Las Vegas -0.5% 1.7%
Los Angeles -0.2% 4.0%
Miami 0.5% 7.4%
Minneapolis -0.5% -0.3%
New York -0.2% 1.3%
Phoenix -0.6% 1.8%
Portland -0.2% 11.6%
San Diego -0.8% -3.3%
San Francisco -0.7% -0.9%
Seattle 0.1% 13.0%
Tampa -0.5% 4.0%
Washington -0.4% -1.9%
Source:Standard & Poor's and Case Shiller Weiss

Northwest cities have best weathered the storm with Seattle showing a year-over-year increase of 13 percent and Portland a gain of 11.6 percent. In November, Miami led all other markets with growth of 7.4 percent.

The Case Shiller indexes are the basis for derivative investments traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Case Shiller's 20-city composite index, which also includes Chicago, New York, and San Diego, dropped 0.4 percent in November, after inching down 0.2 percent in October. For the 12 months, the index was up 1.7 percent, a far cry from its performance in 2005, when the index gained 15.7 percent.

"Country-wide, home price declines appear to show no signs of slowing down," said Robert Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC, in a release. "But while the downward trend is visible on a national level, it is clear that certain cities, like Boston and Detroit, have been more susceptible to the price correction."

Some of the smart money is betting that the decline will continue. Case Shiller real estate derivatives are down an average of about 3.9 percent for its 12-month future contracts, which expire in October of 2007.

The derivatives may, however, exaggerate the market's pessimism. According to Shiller, not only are the futures too thinly traded still to be a very accurate guide to market sentiment but there is also a risk premium to be taken into account; at this point, more traders are interested in protecting themselves against loss than are interested in buying into a growing market. That imbalance drives down the prices of the futures.



Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.