S&P: US home prices tumble a record 14.1 pct in 1Q

水管工

NEW YORK - U.S. home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter, a closely watched index showed Tuesday, a somber indication that the housing slump continues to deepen.

Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller said its national home price index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since its inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.

3 f$ T+ F( B3 z- p. c1 H7 u% Q+ [Prices nationwide are at levels not seen since the third quarter of 2004, according to Maureen Maitland, a S&P vice president. However, the index is still up 60 percent versus 2000.
1 F, i5 N  s2 O8 S+ C' F& V
Two narrower indices set record declines in March versus the previous year. The 20-city index tumbled 14.4 percent, the lowest since that index was started in 2001. The 10-city index plunged 15.3 percent, a record in its 20-year history.
2 y/ `$ R$ U  K% x
/ K7 Q- \. h  s+ I, \* u% E( ["There are very few silver linings that one can see in the data. Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path," said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee.

  e( ]9 q7 l- a* d5 @Nineteen of the 20 metro areas reported annual declines, with 15 of them posting record lows. Six metro areas lost more than 20 percent.
2 W9 R( n2 c1 H. o5 s4 X
& U9 A. s- _+ W# f6 l! }2 MLas Vegas had the worst performance in March, falling 25.9 percent from a year earlier, followed by Miami and Phoenix. Only Charlotte, N.C., stayed above water, gaining less than 1 percent over the previous year.
- ?3 I) ?# _3 G/ ?- ]6 g" |" V
Last week, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter, the largest drop in its 17-year history and only the second quarter of price declines recorded.
9 u. u9 Q! |3 t1 e7 O, N& D" i. k
- i  o0 `; j5 o' ^The OFHEO index is narrower in scope and is calculated using mortgages of $417,000 or less that are bought or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That excludes properties bought with some of the riskier types of home loans.
( c: x, x* ^2 z( C
, v) n" q$ j$ W3 P% H(This version CORRECTS that 20-city and 10-city metro area figures are for March sted 1st quarter) )
. d: Z' H$ c- c6 N" H; ^( C
8 u% `& k* v4 K* q+ _) L! P1 c[ 本帖最后由 水管工 于 2008-6-4 09:20 编辑 ]

yj151