I don’t follow either, nor do I think either are “rinky-dink”. I just prefer to do my own stats and predictions. I only referenced Case Schiller because someone noted them here in a comment.

I did look at Radarlogic. But generally I don’t like to be influenced by what other people are saying, so I don’t look at what other people are saying. If several independent sources say the same thing, me being one of the independent sources, then we have a concensus. If we all look at each other, we can’t later separate how much we might have been influenced by one another.

It’s like when a seller says “I want x $ for my house.” I can’t erase that from my brain and it clouds my opinion.

Well, if you know Case-Shiller – you should probably know about Radarlogic. They are kicking C/S butt on volume of contracts traded. It’s not some rinky-dink think as you perhaps are thinking. I’d wager that it will be come the pre-eminent source of “indexed” real estate values over the next couple of years.

I don’t trust anyone else’s data without check it myself. I know mine are real. Not perfect for sure as there are duplications in the system caused by “AREA” crap. I wish the mls would drop that antiquated and classist system.

Unless I split out vacant land and multi-family and double-wides into their own groups, and houses from condos, I don’t think the stats are meaningful. So I do them myself.

Maybe it only skews slightly, like the difference between $211 and $214. But when the market is moving in small percentages, those $3 could be meaningful and misleading.

I don’t need to look at other stats, I have access to the real deal and I’ve got peeps

I like the change to $/sq foot. It makes sense to me. You might want to take a look at the Radarlogic stats for the Seattle MSA (vs. Case-Shiller) as they are reported in terms of $/sq foot.

They’re reasonably consistent with what you are showing – latest read (as of early Feb) was $211 sq/ft, a level last seen in June 2006. From the peak (in June 2007), that index has dropped about 10%, and is falling at an annualized rate of 17%.

While I post some relevant details and stats, my “predictions” are based on many factors. I knew the market was going to have a problem before the stats indicated such, not due to the same factors as others. I knew it when agents were working much harder to get the same results. That is the first sign of a weak market and does not reflect in the stats until that working harder does not produce the same results.

That’s pretty much it, but also we’re in a very strange time right now. Last year at this time prices were rising too fast to be healthy, so being lower YOY doesn’t bother me a great deal. More bothersome is the volume, and I’ve described it as pathetic. People can’t focus on just price alone.

If something is patently obvious, I don’t necessarily point it out. I’m hypersensitive to such things, where other people are not bothered in the least. If I imposed my views on every client, I’d only show them properties in developments with very active HOAs. That’s not really in my clients’ interest.

I’ll point out other things that might not be so obvious, like drainage or siding issues.

You’re really missing my point. I’m not making any predictions as to where the market is headed. I think it’s impossible to predict. So I don’t think it’s rosy, I don’t think it’s gloomy. I have concerns, but I don’t think those factors will necessarily drive the market one way or the other.