Housing Market: Worse Than You Thought

Get ready for some more bad housing market news: For the past three months, both Radar Logic's Residential Price Index (RPX) housing values and RPX transaction count have declined significantly year over year. Prices have declined an average of 2.2 percent from the prior year.

That may not sound like a lot, but for values that are down as much as 40 percent from their peak, continued declines are meaningful. The Case-Shiller November Index release indicated a continuing decline, albeit somewhat modified. One expert observed that the numbers likely would cause economists to predict a "second leg down" in the housing market.

We at Radar Logic disagree. This is not a second leg. Rather it is a continuing deterioration of value which could continue for some years to come.