Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Case-Shiller Index

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes slumped in January, with 16 of 20 regions measured posting record annual declines, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index reported on Tuesday.

The composite month-over-month index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.4 percent to 180.65 from December, bringing the measure down 10.7 percent from a year earlier and 12.5 percent from its July 2006 peak.

"It shows that the housing correction is still under way," said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Lehman Brothers in New York. "The weakness is not contained to the bubble areas."
Home prices in Las Vegas and Miami fell the most of any region, at 19.3 percent year-over-year, while Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles also suffered double-digit drops.

S&P said its composite month-over-month index of 10 metropolitan areas fell 2.3 percent to 196.06 for an 11.4 percent year-over-year drop.

Keep this in mind - until home prices stop declining there will be no end to the financial crisis.

7 comments:

Warren said...

Fall of 2008 is also the peak of the ARM resets IIRC. All other things equal, I'd expect that should be the bottom for most major markets. However they may wallow there for many months/years.

jesse said...

CNBC has already called the bottom. So there.

freako said...

Price drops are accelerating. At this rate all the air will be gone by the end of the year. By woe the pain such will inflict.

Mathematical said...

I'm praying that you're right freako. Tired of paying rent and refuse to pay for an asset that will surely come down in price.

WoodenHorse said...

Hey Guys,

check out this one on housing panic:

http://tinyurl.com/yvm83u

Quote: Home prices down 26% statewide, falling $3000 A WEEK. Prices off 31% in Sacramento and 39% in Santa Barbara

mohican said...

Having just driven through much of California, I can say that from the ground the outlook is quite grim and nobody denies the obvious anymore - real estate is overpriced and prices will fall until it is not overpriced anymore.

Mango said...

Agreed. I was just in Portland and a cabbie drove me past a bunch of towers in early construction. He just laughed and said that condos were a disaster in Portland and that everyone knew it.