U.S. Home Prices Drop Again
The Washington Post reports:
Home prices fell in the nation's major metropolitan areas from September to October, with six regions hitting new lows, and they're not expected to rebound anytime soon.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index, long considered a reliable gauge of the housing market's health, reported Tuesday that prices of single-family homes dropped 1.3 percent in all 20 regions it tracks.
The housing market's collapse crippled the economy, and a recovery in home prices is considered critical to getting the market back on track. But many economists predict that home prices will continue to fall into the new year and possibly beyond.
Prices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Portland (Ore.), Seattle and Tampa fell to their lowest levels since home prices began deteriorating in 2006 and 2007, the index shows. The steepest drops took place in Atlanta, Detroit and Chicago, where prices declined 2.9 percent, 2.5 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
"There is no good news in October's report," David M. Blitzer, chairman of the S&P's index committee, said in a statement. "Home prices across the country continue to fall."
The results look only slightly better when compared with the same period last year. Four areas posted year-over-year price gains: Washington (3.7 percent), Los Angeles (3.3 percent), San Diego (3 percent) and San Francisco (2.2 percent).
The index measures repeat sales of single-family homes and reflects a rolling three-month average, so the October data captures transactions that closed in August and September as well.
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