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.

+ ]: ^3 ]% s: o" [, \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.

. ~0 ?9 L4 F5 a3 O4 a3 \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.
  ^' n* }% k, l, W$ A) c, O- p
0 Y' h7 h. x  T' J1 j* p8 rTwo 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.
3 _) C5 ?6 X6 ~% R" X
"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.
0 d, ^' m3 k9 y0 c8 n" f0 `+ E
Nineteen of the 20 metro areas reported annual declines, with 15 of them posting record lows. Six metro areas lost more than 20 percent.

$ ]' D% V& o8 w( M) J- TLas 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.
; E  r* E; g( }: \
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.
  \$ O- N2 o6 i" P' \3 w4 m
The OFHEO index is narrower in scope and is calculated using mortgages of $417,000 or less that are bought or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That excludes properties bought with some of the riskier types of home loans.
+ U6 X4 v( Z5 j" G4 A) Z8 i/ s$ W0 s
9 I- J7 t3 H) g! C- s, ^(This version CORRECTS that 20-city and 10-city metro area figures are for March sted 1st quarter) )

8 W- g% N* c8 E[ 本帖最后由 水管工 于 2008-6-4 09:20 编辑 ]

yj151