Commentary

Housing Prices Going Nowhere Fast

Housing recovery news continues to be, well, “blahg” probably best describes it:

U.S. home prices were mostly flat from a year earlier in January, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home-price indexes.

Separately, U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in March from a steep drop in February. But with consumers still worried about jobs, the index remains below its readings of December and January, according to a report released Tuesday.

Prices in 10 major metropolitan areas were flat in January from a year earlier, while the index for 20 major metropolitan areas dropped 0.7% year over year. The readings last grew on a year-to-year basis in January 2007.

Compared with December, adjusted for seasonal factors, the 10-city index rose 0.4% on month in January, while the 20-city composite climbed 0.3%. Unadjusted the 10-area index fell 0.2% and the 20-area index declined 0.4%.

Read the whole story from WSJ here.