I just found this concerning the Economist/Case-Shiller chart I referenced.
The term “Urban land prices” is misleading as the Japanese report RE values differently than we do. If you check out this explanation of the Japan Urban Land Prices report:
it appears they look at the value of the land under a house or CR building in reporting (they seperate the value of the building out). So the Case-Shiller chart is not comparing US houses to Japanese raw land per-se. It’s comparing the closest apples to apples report available. [/quote]
No, that was my point. They are NOT looking at the value of the property (land + improvement) – they are seperating out the value of the land ONLY and using that. That’s why it’s the Urban LAND price index, not an Urban HOUSING price index.
“5. Type of Value
The market value of each survey site is estimated through land appraiseal AS IF VACANT (emphasis mine) and is expressed as a price per square meter as of the date of value”
That is very definitely apples to oranges. If they had the HOUSING prices in that index it would have been a valid comparison.
