And the hits just keep on coming: after the atrocious Durable Goods number, it was the turn of the Case Shiller housing data, which reported what many already knew - in November the 20 City Composite index (the Non-seasonally adjusted version which as the report's authors acknowledge is the accurate one) posted its first monthly decline, dropping modestly from 165.9 to 165.8, or down 0.06%, since November of 2012. And while on an annual basis, the increase was still a solid 13.71%, up from October's 13.61%, these backward looking numbers will quite soon turn sharply negative once the sharp bounce in 2013 - driven not by a housing recovery but by institutional all cash buyers and foreign money launderers seeking to park their cash in the US - get anniversaried.
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Finally confirming that the upward momentum is indeed over was none other than that bustling metropolis - bankrupt Detroit - which would not see a downward monthly print come hell or polar vortex, until it finally did in November, when monthly prices dipped by a tiny 0.1%: the first drop since February 2013. Oh well, the housing non-recovery was fun while it lasted.
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