The price of existing single-family houses continued to fall in January, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. They track home prices across 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas.
The index of the 10 biggest cities is down 30.2 percent from its mid-2006 peak; January prices were off 2.5 percent from December. The 20-city index is down 29.1 percent from its peak, and off 2.8 percent in January. Both indices have fallen every month since August 2006.
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The two housing indices have fallen more than 19 percent in the last year alone.
David M. Blitzer, chair of the index committee at S&P, thinks home prices still have not hit bottom:
"There are very few bright spots that one can see in the data. Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path, with all of the 20 metro areas reporting annual declines, and nine of the [20 metro areas] falling more than 20 percent in the last year."
The report from S&P/Case-Shiller shows that Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco have experienced the largest drop in home prices over a year ago, each in excess of 30 percent. Dallas, Denver and Cleveland have weathered the storm the best.
categories: News
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