by Calculated Risk on 3/05/2012 09:04:00 PM

Earlier today I noted that existing home inventory, according to HousingTracker, is down 20.5% year-over-year in early March.

I mentioned that HousingTracker / DeptofNumbers also report asking prices for 54 markets, including the median, the 25th percentile, and the 75th percentile. Note: NDD at the Bonddad blog has been watching asking prices since last year.

According to housingtracker, median asking prices are up 3.9% year-over-year in early March. We can't read too much into this increase because these are just asking prices, and median prices can be distorted by the mix. As an example, the median asking price might have increased just because there are fewer low priced foreclosures listed for sale.

But with those caveats, here is a graph of asking prices compared to the year-over-year change in the Case-Shiller composite 20 index.

Click on graph for larger image.

The Case-Shiller index is in red. The brief period in 2010 with a year-over-year increase in the repeat sales index was related to the housing tax credit (notice that asking prices showed a small year-over-year declines before Case-Shiller increased since Case-Shiller is for closed transactions).

Also note that the 25th percentile took the biggest hit (that was probably the flood of low end foreclosures on the market).

Now asking prices have turned positive. We have to be careful about the mix (fewer foreclosures on the market), but it appears sellers are a little more optimistic.