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.
7 W7 d8 A; m4 f, O
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.
( `, J6 u& M' z' F
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.

"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.
9 v7 i$ g- ]& e2 W: `
& K9 w! A( m/ GNineteen of the 20 metro areas reported annual declines, with 15 of them posting record lows. Six metro areas lost more than 20 percent.
! N, h# u- U: c$ e# Z3 R% w8 V
Las 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 _$ H6 G! F, g% KLast 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.
& n* E/ i% D3 Y7 D0 I1 ?! _
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.
$ Y, f2 e1 `6 o2 f7 r
7 D( r' Y+ Q) e9 |5 q& @. {6 \4 y(This version CORRECTS that 20-city and 10-city metro area figures are for March sted 1st quarter) )
1 x( r+ T) H8 f1 e& U/ H
[ 本帖最后由 水管工 于 2008-6-4 09:20 编辑 ]

yj151