I can't help it, I always do this when Case-Schiller comes out with their numbers for home prices, which are then gobbled up and spit out by every media outlet across this country.
Case-Shiller says... Case-Schiller...Case-Schiller
Case-Schiller does not cover Tucson, and certainly not the Tucson Foothills. So I feel that I have to report the numbers for the Tucson Foothills, so people know what's going on here in the Foothills, in order to counter any misconceptions that may accrue from the blast of news that accompanies the Case-Schiller report.
(and by the way, I have no argument with the Case-Schiller report, I'm sure it's true, for the markets they cover)
But the rise and fall of home prices in the Tucson Foothills has been less dramatic than in the notoriously once hot markets reported by
Case-Schiller that dominate the news.
Nevertheless, as the following chart illustrates, we've had our share of ups and downs.
Average & and median sale prices in the Foothills peaked in 2006 at $703,616 for the average, and, $571,000 for the median.
Then in 2007 it dropped 3.7% to $677,512 for the average, and, 5.4% to $540,000 for the median.
And this year they're down again.
The average sale price is down 3.6% to $652,519, and the median is down .93% to $535,000, from 2007.
So for the last two years, the average sale price in the Tucson Foothills is down 7.3% and the median is down 6.4%.
Over the last few days we've read, seen and heard that prices are down 15, 20, and 25% in just one year for many of the markets covered by Case-Schiller. It didn't happen here.
UPDATE: A few hours later.
Since posting this piece on Case-Schiller and how it's findings are reported in the press, whether applicable or not to your market area, and consequently often misconstrued by many listeners, readers, and watchers, along comes this headline on the front page of the business section of today's AZ Daily Star, to perfectly illustrate my point.
U.S. home prices are plummeting, still not close to bottoming out
This glaring headline, created by our own AZ Daily Star, was pasted above an AP story reporting on the findings of the Case-Schiller report.
The AZ Daily Star is a local paper, and anyone reading that headline would reasonably conclude that it's about Tucson. But it's not, and the Star damn-well knows that.
There's nothing in the Case-Schiller report about Tucson.
Unfortunately, our local paper The AZ Star makes no effort whatsoever to explain that, or to provide any perspective at all that would be of value to its readers.
Big glaring headline, Cheap, irresponsible journalism.
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