Data through September 2008, released yesterday by Standard & Poor's for its ""S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices"":http://www.homeprice.standardandpoors.com, shows continued broad based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States - a trend that has prevailed since 2007, the research firm said.
The decline in the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index -- which covers all nine U.S. census divisions -- remained in double digits, posting a record 16.6 percent decline in the third quarter of 2008 versus the third quarter of 2007. This figure has increased from the annual declines of 15.1 percent in the second quarter and 14.0 percent reported for the first quarter of the year. The 10-City and 20-City Composites again set new records in Q3, with annual declines of 18.6 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively.
""The turmoil in the financial markets is placing further downward pressure on a housing market already weakened by its own fundamentals,"" said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's. ""All three aggregate indices and 13 of the 20 metro areas are reporting new record rates of decline. Looking at the returns of the U.S. National Index, prices are back to where they were in early 2004.
""As of September 2008, the 10-City Composite is down 23.4 percent from its peak, the 20-City Composite is down 21.8 percent and the National Composite is down 21.0 percent,"" Blitzer added.
Phoenix had the weakest market numbers in the third quarter study, reporting an annual price decline of 31.9 percent. Running a close second was Las Vegas, down 31.3 percent, followed by San Francisco, with a decline of 29.5 percent. Miami, Los Angeles, and San Diego also posted large annual declines of 28.4 percent, 27.6 percent, and 26.3 percent, respectively.
Dallas and Charlotte faired the best in September in terms of relative year-over-year returns. While also in negative territory, their declines remained in single digits of 2.7 and 3.5 percent, respectively. Cleveland was the one market that showed improvement in its year-over-year returns reporting a decline of 6.4 percent compared to 6.6 percent reported in August.
To view the details of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for September 2008, including more than 20 years of historical data, ""click here"":http://www.homeprice.standardandpoors.com.