November 25, 2008

Two new reports on U.S. housing today showed more of what we already know, that HOUSING SUCKS!

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index 10-City and 20-City Composites continued to set new records, with annual declines of 18.6% and 17.4%, respectively. The S&P/Case-Shiller index showed that prices are back to where they were in early 2004. Phoenix was the weakest market, reporting an annual decline of 31.9%, followed by Las Vegas, down 31.3%, and San Francisco at -29.5%. Miami, Los Angeles, and San Diego did not fair much better with annual declines of 28.4%, 27.6% and 26.3%, 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%, respectively.

Data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, showed that U.S. home prices fell 1.8% in the third quarter from the previous quarter. The decline was greater than the 1.4% decline in the prior quarter and the largest in the index's 17-year history. The index showed that prices fell in 41 states in the latest quarter. Three states - Nevada, California, and Arizona - saw price declines of more than 5%.