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Professors Karl Case and Robert Shiller, founders of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index appeared on Bloomberg TV (click the image to see the video) to discuss the results of the most recent index, which showed a 3.3 percent decline in housing prices in February. Case said the U.S. housing market has already experienced a so-called “double-dip,” as housing prices plummeted from their 2006 highs, then rebounded briefly due to the homebuyer’s tax credit, and now the market has returned to previous lows. Case cited an “incredible decline” in households — “we’re not building any new houses, and yet vacancy rates are still going up,” he said — as a major area for concern. Meanwhile, Shiller said the 8.8 percent unemployment rate and the difficulties associated with getting financing are plaguing the market. Comments

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Jonathan Miller

From the April issue: The words may change, but it’s always a variation on the same tune: Every couple of months, someone sings the song of Case-Shiller, the widely cited home price index. The question for New Yorkers is whether it’s a local theme song. While there is no question that the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index is an influential measure of the country’s shifting real estate fortunes, some New York-based number crunchers argue that it says almost nothing about the city’s — particularly Manhattan’s — real estate reality. Still, New York City publications often cite the index (one recent story ran under the headline “Housing Index: New York home prices decline 10 percent”). [more]