What states were the primary drivers of the 2006 housing bubble, at least right before the "subprime is contained" pop that is? Those who said Phoenix, California and Nevada are in the right direction.
We bring it up because according to the just released Case-Shiller [6]data for March, these three same states, indicated by the representative MSAs of Phoenix, San Francisco and Las Vegas, are once again heading the charge in the latest bubble fed by Bernanke's cheap credit. What do they have in common: they were the three to post a greater than 20% increase in home prices compared to last year. Where was Detroit? Sadly it just barely missed the cut off with a far less bubbly 18% increase in home prices.
Perhaps Case Shiller should readjust its New York index to only look at $5+ million penthouses instead of the broader market in the Tristate area. At least then the cash parking by offshore oligarchs would accurately reflect the true nature of "price increases" in various cities, instead of having NYC in the rather dejected last place.
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So how does the much trumpeted Top 20 city NSA average look? Like this:
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