Philadelphia Case Shiller Home Price Index

Realtor, owner and CEO of Prudential Fox & Roach, Larry Flick distributed a great email to the company recently about the Philadelphia Case Shiller Home Price Index.  Here’s my favorite excerpt:

“The press has done it again — with the release of the latest Case Shiller Home Price Index they used data from the worst parts of the country to make a point that housing prices are back to 2000 levels. Have you seen the Wall Street Journal article? If not, here is a link. Remember that Philadelphia is NOT included in the Case Shiller composite index that is released to the press. In our area, prices are NOT at the 2000 level! I’ve completed charts with the same data as those you’ve seen in the news, but these are for OUR market areas – please note the counties listed in each metro area. Yes, prices have come down since their peak in 2007 but you can clearly see that our area’s housing has remained an incredibly sound investment.”

As always, Larry provided a great chart to illustrate his point.  Real estate is local business and national data is only marginally helpful at best.  Certainly unemployment is high and consumer confidence is flailing but to date the real estate economy in Philadelphia has been largely resistant to the effects of the national recession.

Here’s why Philly is not in the Case Shiller Home Price Index, as well as the most recent price indexes around the country.

Update in 2018: also check out the top employers in Philly for an idea of what has helped the market recover in the years since the recession.