Clear Capital Reports National Double Dip

Home Data Index Market Report

  May 2011

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Clear Capital^® Reports National Double Dip

U.S. home prices double dip as West, South and Northeast regions fall prey to the last grip of winter.

TRUCKEE, Calif. — May 5, 2011 — Clear Capital (www.clearcapital.com) today released its monthly Home Data Index™ (HDI) Market Report, and reports prices have double dipped nationally 0.7 percent below prior lows experienced in March 2009. This month's HDI Market Report provides the most current (through April 2011) and relevant analysis of how local markets performed compared to the national trend in home prices.
Report highlights include:

• National quarterly home prices changed -4.9%; while year-over-year national price changes reached -5.0%.
• National home prices have fallen 11.5% over the previous nine-month period, a rate of decline not experienced since 2008.
• In a sign of the continued volatility and fragility of home prices, all the major Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) tracked in this month's report showed quarter-over-quarter price declines.
• National REO saturation rate reaches 34.5%.

"The latest data through April shows a continued increase in the proportion of distressed sales that are taking hold in markets nationwide," said Dr. Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital. "With more than one-third of national home sales being REO, market prices are being weighed down as many markets have not regained enough footing to withstand the strain of the high proportion of REO sales.
In light of the compounding effects of winter's seasonal slowdown and increased distressed sale activity, the market now faces the true test of whether prices can rebound in the historically active spring season," added Villacorta.
The Clear Capital HDI Market Report offers the industry, investors and lenders a near real-time look at pricing conditions not only at the national and metropolitan level, but within local markets. Clear Capital data is built on the most recent data available from recorder/assessor offices, and then further enhanced by adding the Company's proprietary market data for the most comprehensive geographic coverage available.
Read this month's full HDI Market Report >>