Robert Shiller, a co-founder of a popular home-price index, told Alison Sider and Thomas R. Kenne of Bloomberg Radio yesterday that home prices saw a "striking improvement in the rate of decline" in April and he added that trading in funds launched yesterday indicated investors believe the U.S. housing slump is nearing a bottom.
"At this point, people are thinking the fall is over," Shiller was quoted as declaring, adding that "The market is predicting the declines are over."
The Standard & Poor Case-Shiller Home-Price Index for prices in 20 major metropolitan areas in the country, the article continued, fell in April at a slower pace than forecast and sales of existing homes showed gains in April and May while housing starts jumped in May from a record low.
Although Mr. Shiller told Bloomberg Television that he guessed that "home prices are going to level off - they're not going to keep falling," he added that he was "not optimistic that we're going to see any sharp rebound."
The article said that Karl Case, the other co-founder of the index, said that "these numbers are really showing that there's been a change in mood."
Home prices rose in eight of the cities measured on a monthly basis: Dallas, Denver, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta and Seattle.
"At this point, people are thinking the fall is over," Shiller was quoted as declaring, adding that "The market is predicting the declines are over."
The Standard & Poor Case-Shiller Home-Price Index for prices in 20 major metropolitan areas in the country, the article continued, fell in April at a slower pace than forecast and sales of existing homes showed gains in April and May while housing starts jumped in May from a record low.
Although Mr. Shiller told Bloomberg Television that he guessed that "home prices are going to level off - they're not going to keep falling," he added that he was "not optimistic that we're going to see any sharp rebound."
The article said that Karl Case, the other co-founder of the index, said that "these numbers are really showing that there's been a change in mood."
Home prices rose in eight of the cities measured on a monthly basis: Dallas, Denver, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta and Seattle.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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