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US house prices 'hitting new lows' US house prices continue dramatic fall
(about 6 hours later)
US single family home prices fell for the seventh month in a row in January, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of prices. US single-family home prices fell for the seventh month in a row in January, new statistics show.
It monitors 20 metropolitan areas and found that seasonally adjusted prices had fallen in 12 of them. Seasonally adjusted prices fell in 12 of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller href="http://www.standardandpoors.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobheadername3=MDT-Type&blobcol=urldocumentfile&blobtable=SPComSecureDocument&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3Ddownload.pdf&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobheadername1=content-type&blobwhere=1245301368714&blobheadervalue3=abinary%3B+charset%3DUTF-8&blobnocache=true" >index.
In four cities, prices were at their lowest for 11 years, with the overall index down 0.2% between December and January. In four cities, prices were at their lowest in 11 years, with the overall index down 0.2% in January from the previous month.
The average annual price fall across the 20 cities was 3.1%. The average annual price fall across the 20 cities was 3.1%; only Washington DC saw a meaningful rise in prices.
Only Washington DC registered a meaningful rise in prices, gaining 3.6% over the year, while San Diego was flat at 0.1% above January's price a year ago. House prices in the US capital city, which in general has fared better than the rest of the country during recent economic downturn, gained 3.6% over the year.
S&P's David Blitzer said there could be worse to come: "The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery. San Diego was flat at 0.1% above January's price a year ago.
"Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future." S&P's David Blitzer said worse declines could lie ahead.
"The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery," he said.
"Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future.
Behind the declines, in part, is the continued impact of the implosion of the sub-prime lending market, including high house foreclosure rates.
But there is also a clear lack of confidence on the part of buyers - partly because they can see which way the wind is blowing and they are waiting to see if prices are going to fall again. And unemployment is still at 8.9%, far too high to convince people that better times are around the corner.
"At most, we have seen all statistics bounce along their troughs; at worst, the feared double-dip recession may be materializing."
In Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas, average house prices remain below 2000 levels. House prices in Phoenix, in the US state of Arizona, showed the most drastic decline with a 9.1% fall from the previous year.
The index tracks the prices of typical single-family homes in each of the metropolitan areas surveyed.
The declines come as other economic indicators show signs of recovery.
Consumer spending has been rising and manufacturing activity is growing at the fastest rate in seven years.