According to ""Standard & Poor's"":http://www2.standardandpoors.com, a recent improvement in the rate of home price declines is a signal that the housing slump is nearing a bottom. The company's home price index has been falling for the last three years. But this week, S&P reported that home values declined only 0.6 percent between April and March, the smallest monthly drop since June 2008.
The ""S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices"":http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_csmahp/0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0.html released Wednesday show a slowing in the annual rate of decline for 13 of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked in April, with 19 metros recording more moderate monthly declines.
Even though the price freefall in most major markets seems to have eased, the report's 10-city and 20-city composites still showed annual declines of 18 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively. However, these numbers represent improvements over the returns reported for March, down 18.7 percent for both indices. For the past three months, the 10-city and 20-city composites have recorded an improvement in annual returns.
David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, said, ""While one month’s data cannot determine if a turnaround has begun, it seems that some stabilization may be appearing in some of the regions. We are entering the seasonally strong period in the housing market, so it will take some time to determine if a recovery is really here.""
Blitzer continued, ""The stock market bottomed in March and measures of consumer confidence have turned upward. This report shows that these better spirits are also appearing in the housing market.""
As of April 2009, S&P's data shows that average home prices across the United States are at similar levels to where they were in the middle of 2003. From the peak in the second quarter of 2006, the 10-city composite is down 33.6 percent and the 20-city composite is down 32.6 percent.
In terms of annual declines, the worst performing metros continue to be the same three from the Sunbelt. Phoenix was down 35.3 percent in April compared to one year earlier. Las Vegas declined 32.2 percent and San Francisco fell 28 percent.
Denver (-4.9 percent), Dallas (-5 percent), and Boston (-7.7 percent) continue to fare the best in terms of annual declines.
In terms ofmonth-to-month change, Dallas was the best performer, with property values gaining 1.7 percent. Las Vegas was the worst, but down only 3.5 percent.
Looking at the data from relative peaks-through-April 2009, Dallas has suffered the least with a decline of 9.6 percent from its peak in June 2007, while Phoenix is down 54.1 percent from its peak in June of 2006. Excluding Dallas, all of the 20 metro areas are in double digit declines from their peaks, with 10 of them posting declines of greater than 30 percent and Phoenix and Las Vegas properties losing more than 50 percent of their values.