What's important to me is that the information is recent and pertinent. With an internet that apparently never forgets anything old data is really easy to come by. For instance, if you want the New York Stock Market's returns back in the early 1900's, it's here. Or perhaps you are a Monty Python fan and are looking for the speed of a swallow, it's here. Not to take anything away from bird watchers or from stock market analysts, but neither of those is really critical to me as a Realtor.

 

That's what drives me so nuts about the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 metro markets. The S&P/Case-Shiller index is exactly what it says it is, an index of the home prices in the 20 metropolitan areas throughout the US. While that is critical to me as Realtor the index still fails on the timeliness issue. It isn't relevant by the time it is released.

 

Take the January 25, 2010 report as an example. This is the most recent report available and it was 2 months old already the moment it was released. The report only covers as recently as November. Doesn't seem so bad to you? Consider that I have already reported on the year ending statistics from December of 2010 here on January 6 and here on January 7.

 

I was able to make those reports not because I get special access (I don't) to the reports by being a Realtor. I get those reports just like the rest of the public about about 4-5 days after the end of the month when the NWMLS, that covers the Puget Sound area and the surrounding counties, releases a press release with the information in it.

 

We are about 10 days away from having the January 2011 data and the S&P/Case-Schiller finally got around to November 2010! My point is simply that the November data is no longer pertinent when we already know the December data and the January data is just around the corner. What's in that data that drives me nuts? That's next, stay tuned.