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.
# B, Y% @9 z& Q
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.
6 R! z1 `6 `: x+ T% |
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.
  W9 f5 e8 }, |' K; F6 f. H
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.

# t9 @' h5 t8 m; z: ]"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.
# W2 w, e  ?' v6 G* I; ^! R6 [
Nineteen of the 20 metro areas reported annual declines, with 15 of them posting record lows. Six metro areas lost more than 20 percent.

! c$ T& }; K( v7 {# ^& a; [6 XLas 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.

! _+ O0 ^  |# \2 C, z# \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.
2 s2 w. V; q& {- Z0 x) I; c
/ G4 G  [! U" A2 N% P- TThe OFHEO index is narrower in scope and is calculated using mortgages of $417,000 or less that are bought or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That excludes properties bought with some of the riskier types of home loans.
: Z' g0 |, S$ Z& n: B: e) j& C
* s1 a: o3 E5 y/ q$ a: h& H(This version CORRECTS that 20-city and 10-city metro area figures are for March sted 1st quarter) )
  g+ ^' v: z& y  f+ r% I
[ 本帖最后由 水管工 于 2008-6-4 09:20 编辑 ]

yj151