Today’s quotes on the Case-Shiller Index report:

National home prices fell 4.1% during the last three months of 2010, compared with 12 months earlier, according to the latest report from the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, a closely watched indicator of market trends. They were down 1.9% compared with three months earlier.  The decline was widespread, with 18 of the 20 large cities covered in a separate S&P/Case-Shiller index recording losses for the year. The only gains were posted by Washington, which was up 4.1%, and San Diego, which saw prices climb 1.7%.

“Despite improvements in the overall economy, housing continues to drift lower and weaker,” said David Blitzer, spokesman for S&P.

“We’re really close to being at the bottom again,” said S&P’s Maureen Maitland. “Last years’s gains came courtesy of the tax incentives and the market is not holding up on its own.”

 “I think the price may go down substantially,” Robert Shiller, Yale University professor of economics who helps formulate the study, said on CNBC.

“The more accurate picture might be that we got down to the bottom in mid-2009 and we stopped there and we’re still there,” Blitzer said in a CNBC interview. “Maybe we’ll still be there for quite some time.”

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It seems like pricing has been flat around here, so the +1.7% number for San Diego over the last 12 months sounds about right – though how they compute the index is still suspect.  They compared the fourth quarters too; the seasonally-adjusted change between 4Q09 and 4Q10 was 0.0%.

Here’s are the MLS detached home sales for the latest fourth quarters, and first eighths:

San Diego County, Fourth Quarter

Year # of Sales $-per-sf %REO/SS
2009 5,841 $243 40%
2010 4,965 $243 37%

San Diego County, Jan 1 to Feb 15

Year # of Sales $-per-sf %REOSS
2010 1,884 $234 44%
2011 1,818 $234 45%

North SD County Coastal, Fourth Quarter

Year # of Sales $-per-sf %REO/SS
2009
642
$408 17%
2010
577
$381 18%

North SD County Coastal, Jan 1 to Feb 15

Year # of Sales $-per-sf %REOSS
2010
198
$378 22%
2011
220
$378 24%

So far this year, there have been 10% more sellers around North SD County Coastal who have been willing to sell for what the market will bear. Those buyers have been willing to pay about the same, on average, as in the beginning of 2010.

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