Case-Shiller’s improved house price index (HPI) now offers a monthly read on the housing market instead of a quarterly overview, according to housingwire.com. Paul Diggle of Capital Economics says, “The new index suggests that prices ‘only’ fell by 26% during the crash, relative to 34% on the previous quarterly index. And at 20%, relative to 23%, the subsequent rebound has been a little weaker. For comparison, the same figures for the CoreLogic index are 32% and 26%.”

In addition, new HPI indicates that house prices have actually been dropping instead of just slowing in gains: Relative to incomes per capita in Q2, housing was undervalued 8.8 percent. Says Diggle, “That’s slightly less than the 10.8% shown on the previous quarterly index, meaning that at the margins the new series adds to our view that housing is approaching fair value. That’s one reason why we expect the slowdown in house price inflation to be sustained.” Meanwhile, sales of manufactured homes continue to grow each month, as MHProNews has reported in the Daily Business News since Aug. 2011. ##

(Photo credit: mattheafey.com)