Where’s the Definition of a Housing Recovery?

by Acton

by Steve Topper

How do we know when the housing market has recovered?

Today’s blog was originally going to be about a Virginia bank that recently brought back Free Checking.  I enjoy writing about Free Checking as I continue to believe it remains consumers’ #1 choice for checking.

But I changed my mind Tuesday upon the release of February housing data from the S&P/Case Shiller composite index.

I found the information online in the article, “February home prices see best yearly rise in almost seven years: S&P,” posted to the MSN Money website.

Here’s the article’s opening sentence:  “Single-family home prices rose more than expected in February, racking up their best annual rise since May 2006 in a fresh sign the housing recovery remains on track, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.”

By the way, it was a 9.4% year-over-year increase.

I’m bothered by the words “a fresh sign the housing recovery remains on track.”

What track?

These words suggest that someone or some organization has quantified what constitutes a housing recovery.  It suggests that one or more numbers or other metrics have been created and made public so that all of us can track this recovery as more data are released.

What, exactly, constitutes a recovery?

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