A 15.4% quarterly drop is the largest in 20 years for one major indicator. June prices decline 25.3% in L.A. and Orange counties compared to last year, another index shows.
U.S. home prices continued to fall at a record pace through the first half of 2008, according to a major indicator released today.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. national home price index fell 15.4% in the second quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier. The decline was the largest in 20 years for the index, which covers the entire U.S.
In addition to the quarterly national index, Standard and Poor’s released its monthly index of 20 major metropolitan areas, which also posted record declines. June home prices were down 15.9% from a year ago in the 20-city index.
Los Angeles and Orange County home prices were down 25.3% in June from the previous year, the index showed. The L.A.-area decline was the fourth-worst among the 20 cities.
Las Vegas posted the sharpest year-over-year decline, with June prices down 28.6% from a year ago. Miami, with a 28.3% June annual decline was next, followed by Phoenix, which saw prices fall 27.9% from the previous June.
Every city in the index posted an annual price decline, but in Charlotte, N.C., that drop was only 1% in June from a year ago.
Standard & Poor’s analysts also noted that the 20-city index’s June annual decline of 15.9% was only a moderate dip from its May decline of 15.8% from May 2007.
“It is possible we are seeing some regions struggling to come back, which has resulted in some moderation in price declines at the national level,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee for Standard & Poor’s.
The Case-Shiller index compares the latest sales of detached houses to previous sales, and accounts for factors such as remodeling that might affect a house’s sales price over time. From those data, an index score is created to show price changes.
The 20-city index for June was down 18.8% from its peak in July 2006.
More bleak housing news came today from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The aencies reported July sales of new homes were down 35.3% from a year ago. The number of new homes sold in July was up 2.4%, however, from June.
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