Having inched up an upwardly revised 0.9 percent in November, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index for single-family home values within the San Francisco Metropolitan Area – which includes the East Bay, North Bay and Peninsula – was unchanged in December, ending the year 8.7 percent higher on a year-over-year basis versus 10.4 percent higher nationally and the only major market not to record a November to December gain.
At a more granular level, the index for the least expensive third of the Bay Area market inched up 0.1 percent in December for a 10.9 percent year-over-year gain, while the indexes for the middle and top thirds of the market were unchanged in December and ended the year up 10.1 percent and 8.2 percent respectively.
At the same time, the index for Bay Area condo values, which remains a leading indicator for the market at a whole, slipped 0.5 percent in December and ended the year down 1.0 percent (versus year-over-year gains of 5.2 percent, 4.6 percent and 1.6 percent in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York respectively) and 3.9 percent below peak.
And nationally, Phoenix still leads the way in terms of indexed home price gains (up 14.4 percent on a year-over-year basis), followed by Seattle (up 13.6 percent) and San Diego (up 13.0 percent).
Our standard SocketSite S&P/Case-Shiller footnote: The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices include San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda in the “San Francisco” index (i.e., greater MSA) and are imperfect in factoring out changes in property values due to improvements versus appreciation (although they try their best).
It is absolutely insane how the FED is keeping mortgage purchases going at such a pace with what is happening nationally to housing. And even scarier how they will implement yield curve control if long rates get out of hand.