Home prices drop by record amount nationwide in May

[marmar]

AP, via Yahoo!:



S&P: Home prices drop by record 15.8 pct. in May
By J.W. ELPHINSTONE, AP Business Writer
11 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Home prices tumbled by the steepest rate ever in May, according to a closely watched housing index released Tuesday, as the housing slump deepened nationwide.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index dropped by 15.8 percent in May compared with a year ago, a record decline since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index plunged 16.9 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history.

No city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw price gains in May, the second straight month that's happened. The monthly indices have not recorded an overall home price increase in any month since August 2006.

Home values have fallen 18.4 percent since the 20-city index's peak in July 2006.

Nine metropolitan cities — Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Tampa, Fla. — posted record lows in May. And the value of housing in Detroit is now lower than it was in 2000.

But a possible bright spot in an otherwise dismal report, seven metros — Tampa, Fla., Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Dallas and Atlanta — showed smaller annual declines.

Las Vegas recorded the worst drop, with prices plunging 28.4 percent in the month. Miami came in a close second, with prices down 28.3 percent.

Charlotte, N.C., posted the smallest drop at 0.2 percent. Until April, the North Carolina city had been the last metro still showing price gains.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080729/ap_on_bi_ge/home_prices

[predfan]

1. I went to the bank to borrow some money this week,

and my house assessed for about 7 % less than 10 years ago.

[spinbaby]

2. It's not even close to bottomed out

:scared:

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. I don't think it is either.

Most of my friends are in mortgage lending and they are all starving. Course that's after 10 years of booming. They all spent too much and now can't afford what they have.

It was such a long boom that everyone thought it would never end. More fools they.

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. This is part of the reason no one is buying right now.

Why buy a house that will be worth 20% less in a year.