Zillow forecasts Case-Shiller House Price index to increase 6.7% Year-over-year for December, Strong Price increases in January

Zillow forecasts Case-Shiller House Price index to increase 6.7% Year-over-year for December, Strong Price increases in January

by Bill McBride on 2/22/2013 01:58:00 PM

The Case-Shiller house price indexes will be released next week. I like to check the Zillow forecasts; they have been pretty close.

Zillow Forecast: December Case-Shiller Composite-20 Expected to Show 6.7% Increase from One Year Ago 

[W]e predict that next month’s Case-Shiller data (December 2012) will show that the 20-City Composite Home Price Index (non-seasonally adjusted [NSA]) increased 6.7 percent on a year-over-year basis, while the 10-City Composite Home Price Index (NSA) increased 5.7 percent on a year-over-year basis. The seasonally adjusted (SA) month-over-month change from November to December will be 0.7 percent for the 20-City Composite and 0.6 percent for the 10-City Composite Home Price Index (SA). All forecasts are shown in the table below. Officially, the Case-Shiller Composite Home Price Indices for December will not be released until Tuesday, February 26th, almost two months after the end of 2012.

The December Case-Shiller numbers are forecast to come in stronger than many economists expect. The last few months have hinted at a strong close to 2012, but part of this strength is due to the weak December 2011 numbers to which December’s numbers are compared. ... To forecast the Case-Shiller indices we use past data from Case-Shiller, as well as the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), which is available more than a month in advance of Case-Shiller numbers, paired with foreclosure re-sale numbers, which we also have available more than a month prior to Case-Shiller numbers. Together, these data points enable us to reliably forecast the Case-Shiller 10-City and 20-City Composite indices.

Right now it looks like Case-Shiller will be up over 6% in 2012 (through the December / Q4 reports to be released in February).

Read more at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/02/zillow-forecasts-case-shiller-house.html#hSet1wv8P363H8RH.99