Case Shiller Is Out...

June Case Shiller is out and of course its less worse meaning greatly good for stock futures.

For the second quarter, Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted a 14.9% drop from a year earlier, an improvement over the record 19.1% drop in the first quarter. It was up 2.9% sequentially.

Of course people will focus in on the 2.9% sequential gain, forgetting that home prices have dropped some 30% from peak values. At this rate, Homeowners will be at parity when the Mets win the World Series in 15 years if we are lucky.

The monthly numbers showed 15 of 20 major metropolitan areas posted price declines of more than 10% from a year earlier.

Home prices are at levels similar to early 2003.

The indexes showed prices in both 10 and 20 major metropolitan areas fell 15% in June from a year earlier and rose 1.4% from May. Eighteen regions reported a slight price increase in June from a month earlier. Month-to-month gainers were again led by Cleveland, which posted a 4.2% gain, and San
Francisco, which rose 3.8%. Las Vegas again fared worse, dropping 2%.

Housing Sucks Still

For the 15th straight month, no region was able to avoid a year-over-year decline. Las Vegas edged out Phoenix as the worst performer. The two cities posted drops of 32.4% and 31.6%, respectively. Detroit followed with a 25% decline. The best year-over-year performer was Dallas, which posted a 2.2% decline.

Obama is on the tape congradualating Bernanke for totally skull mucking the simpletons we call the electorate. Where is the secret handshake?