S&P: US home prices tumble a record 14.1 pct in 1Q

水管工

NEW YORK - U.S. home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter, a closely watched index showed Tuesday, a somber indication that the housing slump continues to deepen.
& _2 m# v/ F( X; u
Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller said its national home price index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since its inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.

8 z' Z* G$ @2 C  X. MPrices nationwide are at levels not seen since the third quarter of 2004, according to Maureen Maitland, a S&P vice president. However, the index is still up 60 percent versus 2000.
; F0 o. c/ b! \# ?1 ^" E  A5 l: A$ v
8 B# P: R+ ?, q4 H# G* M/ BTwo narrower indices set record declines in March versus the previous year. The 20-city index tumbled 14.4 percent, the lowest since that index was started in 2001. The 10-city index plunged 15.3 percent, a record in its 20-year history.
" t' U$ d: J( d5 t( q" p9 A4 h. H9 [
# D3 X" R8 w, m: s% e- ~"There are very few silver linings that one can see in the data. Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path," said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee.
1 ^& d2 n9 ?. E7 l$ ?3 h" c7 A
Nineteen of the 20 metro areas reported annual declines, with 15 of them posting record lows. Six metro areas lost more than 20 percent.

- Z4 O, W4 D' [Las Vegas had the worst performance in March, falling 25.9 percent from a year earlier, followed by Miami and Phoenix. Only Charlotte, N.C., stayed above water, gaining less than 1 percent over the previous year.

( R7 }# m# i" r: A. mLast week, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter, the largest drop in its 17-year history and only the second quarter of price declines recorded.

The OFHEO index is narrower in scope and is calculated using mortgages of $417,000 or less that are bought or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That excludes properties bought with some of the riskier types of home loans.

7 b- W! C( B, G6 G(This version CORRECTS that 20-city and 10-city metro area figures are for March sted 1st quarter) )
. i: y$ B' B5 v0 X! d+ {) F
* d# o) q+ e! N% n[ 本帖最后由 水管工 于 2008-6-4 09:20 编辑 ]

yj151