Getting Graphic is a semi-sort-of-irregular collection of our favorite BIG real estate-related chart(s).

Source: NYT

Click here for full sized graphic.

Floyd Norris’ article When It Comes to House Prices, the Bloom Is Off the Cactus illustrates quite clearly how much housing price patterns varied by sub-market but also how much houseing spiked in some markets and how some markets were unaffected by the recent boom.

These are year over year changes rather than actual price level movements and are based on repeat sales, which uses properties that had multiple transfers. This technique has many flaws including and smaller data set and not considering changes to the same house, such as a renovation or extension.

Given the fact that renovations were another significant phenomenon of the housing boom, it is likely that repeat sales would greatly exagerate price change in some markets. However, in the markets with the largest price spikes, namely Pheonix, Las Vegas and San Diego, a large portion of housing activity was comprised of new development. Must have been a heck of a lot of flipping going on for this to be captured in the repeat sales index. 40% figures I have heard thrown around must not be far from the truth.

Which brings to mind another point. Is anyone still buying and selling flips these days? Apparently so. Its hard to believe its still going on as proactively as this article suggests.