Lakeshore Analytics

Key index shows Chicago home values falling as national values stay flat

The Case-Shiller Index shows that Chicago-area homes have continued to lose value through August 2011, even as the 10-city and 20-city national indices show a pause in plummeting values. The 10-city index and the 20-city index arrested their free-fall in May 2009. At that point, they were 33% and 32% off their peaks, reached in [...]

Builder confidence highest in 18 months

Homebuilder confidence for single family sales is at its highest level in 18 months, according to the latest NAHB confidence index. The index was higher than 20 in only one month since August 2007. Still, October’s index value of 20 still indicates the majority of homebuilders see the market as “poor.” The index for traffic [...]

Rental vacancy easing toward pre-bubble levels

The U.S. rental vacancy rate stood at 9.8% in the third quarter of 2011, up slightly from the previous quarter, but down from a bubble-era high of 11.1%, seen in 2009. Rental vacancy rates increased dramatically over the period of 2000 to 2009. From 1965 to 2000, the average quarterly vacancy rate was 6.7%; from [...]

Homeowner rate increase likely a blip

The U.S. homeownership rate ticked up slightly in the third quarter, but this is likely a seasonal fluctuation. The rate was 66.3% (up from 65.9%) of U.S. households and 70.3% (up from 70.0%) of Midwest households. The rate was steady at between 62% and 65% until 1995, when rates increased to a U.S. maximum of [...]

Fall in pending sales sharpest in Midwest

The NAR’s pending home sales index trended down last month, and though it remains above year-ago levels, year-ago levels were especially depressed due to the effects of homebuyer incentives. Overall, the index declined 4.6% from last month. In the Midwest, the index dropped 6.2%, the sharpest drop of all four regions. Several press reports indicated [...]

Case-Shiller: Minor increase for Chicago’s condos, lowest tier

Improvements for the bottom tier of homes drove the almost imperceptible increase in the Chicago Case-Shiller index announced this morning. The charts below show that the index remains 6% below year-ago levels and increased just 0.3% over the last month. The latest release covers June, July, and August 2011, so there is a lag and [...]