Housing data positive but market still in turmoil, Shiller says

Yale economist and Case-Shiller Index co-founder Robert Shiller sat down with Fox Business News to discuss recent national housing data and whether there’s reason to feel optimistic about the market. Recent home price increases, along with promising housing starts and home sales data, shows there’s more reason to feel positive about the market, Shiller contended. But Shiller also cautioned against feeling irrationally positive about the recent strong housing data. “We’re still in such turmoil, we don’t know that these numbers mean what they would mean in other times,” Shiller said. Additionally, Shiller argued that government financial incentives like the first-time homebuyer tax credit could be skewing the data. “The worry is that a year from now or two years from now we’re not going to [have those incentives] anymore and people might be thinking that these are failed policies and then we’re in worse trouble,” Shiller said.