U.S. home prices fell by a record in January!

[Dan]

Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index shows a 11.4 percent decline. 
NEW YORK - A widely watched index of U.S. home prices fell 11.4 percent in January, its steepest drop since data for the indicator was first collected in 1987.

The decline reported Tuesday in the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index means prices have been growing more slowly or dropping for 19 consecutive months.

The index tracks the prices of single-family homes in 10 major metropolitan areas in the U.S.

The broader 20-city composite index also fell, dropping 10.7 percent in January from a year ago. That makes it the first time both indexes dropped by double-digit percentages.

“Home prices continue to fall, decelerate and reach record lows across the nation,” said David Blitzer, index committee chairman at S&P. “No markets seem to be completely immune from the housing crisis.”

Blitzer said all 20 cities S&P tracks have seen dropping prices for five consecutive months, when compared to the prior month. What’s more, the declines are growing in severity, with 13 of the 20 cities reporting their biggest single monthly decline in January.

The worst performing markets are Las Vegas and Miami, which both reported 19.3 percent drops.

Charlotte, N.C., squeaked by as the only gainer, with a 1.8 percent rise in January.

Economists have predicted a 15 percent to 20 percent yearly decline in housing prices, so the Case-Shiller results are not far off expectations, said Global Insight’s chief U.S. economist, Brian Bethune.

“I wouldn’t be looking for a pattern of improvement until April, May or June,” he said.

Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis both slipped into negative double-digit territory for the first time in January, recording 10.9 percent and 10 percent drops compared to last year.

Other cities that showed double-digit percentage losses were Phoenix (18.2), San Diego (16.7) Los Angeles (16.5), Detroit (15.1), Tampa (15) and San Francisco (13.2).

The index is considered a telling measure of home prices because it examines price changes of the same property over time, instead of calculating a median price of homes sold during the month.

[briann]

Ouch!!!