Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Fell by a Record 19% in January

[spotbird]

Source: bloomberg

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities fell 19 percent in January from a year earlier, the fastest drop on record, as demand plummeted and foreclosures rose.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index’s decrease was more than forecast and compares with an 18.6 percent decrease in December. The gauge has fallen every month since January 2007, and year- over-year records began in 2001.

A glut of unsold properties may keep prices low, shrinking household wealth and damping spending. Still, sales of new and previously-owned homes rose in February, indicating the housing slump, now in its fourth year, may ease as policy efforts to unclog credit and aid borrowers begin to take hold.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=azRIYCD3Hqbc&refer=home

[tomm2thumbs]

1. wow - thanks for posting

[Robbien]

2. Yet the home prices are still to high and have far to fall

Relationship of average home price and average wage is still out of whack. Unless average wages increases dramatically (haha), home prices have to come down. Soros is saying the prices have to come down another 30%.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[Robbien]

4. What is so sad

is to keep getting posters coming to DU and spouting Rush Limbaugh's words. Word for word.



Rush demands you hate Fannie and Freddie claiming it is a Dem organization and conveniently ignoring it supports just as many far right winger GOPers. So following his demands you go running around the web screaming "Fannie and Freddie are monsters you must hate them".

Don't you have any thoughts of your own?

[rucky]

9. Some folks who have been living off their 401k

have to depend on the equity in their home. So that's pretty a pretty scary prediction.

[bemildred]

5. "2008 worst year on record for housing prices." nt

[DLnyc]

6. Very misleading headline by B'berg: Prices did NOT fall 19% in January

They fell 19% from 1/08 to 1/09, over a 1 year period, NOT "in January".

Don't mean to quibble, but this is becoming a common device among (certain) headline writers, to give a year-over-year number but make it sound like it happened in one month, in order to 'sensationalize' (i.e. fictionalize) their headline.

[girl gone mad]

7. From the article:

"From a month earlier, home prices fell 2.8 percent in January, after a 2.6 percent drop in December, the report showed. The figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal effects, so economists prefer to focus on year-over-year changes instead of month-to-month. "

The second part is accurate. I almost never see m/m prices used by economists for comparison.

[paulsby]

8. i just closed last week

great time to buy

[PAStudent]

10. Great Time to buy

If you have any money! What kind of down payment are banks asking for these days?

[midnight armadillo]

12. 5% if your credit is excellent

That is, if your FICO score is >740 you can do 5%.

[paulsby]

14. i did just under 25%

otoh, my credit is not 740.

even if it was perfect, i would still never buy a house with less than 20% down. that's just a hard and fast rule for me.

the guy i bought from had already taken a 135k hit since he bought the house in 2006, so i also liked the fact that i was getting an asset that had fallen significantly in value from the market peak.

i certainly think the market could fall farther,but with the interest rate at 4.6% that sealed the deal for me.

[paulsby]

13. i don't know. i put about 25% down

my policy is never to buy any house without at least 20% down.

i put about 25% down on the house i just bought. not sure what they would have said with less than 20%.

[Deja Q]

11. Overall good news I suppose, I might buy by 2010...

I want to save a decent down payment first.

Of course, prices may still fall and the resulting situation will worsen... of course, that's the fault of everyone but the banks and employers... :sarcasm:

[sattahipdeep]

15. “aiding and abetting” Ponzi schemes Madoff scandal

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are produced by Fiserv, Inc.
....
Fiserv Inc., which already has been named in two class-action suits for its alleged role in “aiding and abetting” Ponzi schemes, is likely to face a third suit, this time related to the Bernard Madoff scandal.


These indices are generated and published under agreements between Standard & Poor’s and Fiserv, Inc.
The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are produced by Fiserv, Inc. In addition to the S&P/Case-
Shiller Home Price Indices, Fiserv also offers home price index sets covering thousands of zip codes,
counties, metro areas, and state markets. The indices, published by Standard & Poor's, represent just a
small subset of the broader data available through Fiserv.

[Hawkowl]

16. But the DOW is up!!

But the economy has turned around! The stock market is recovering, the stimulus is working! (sorry don't know how to do the sarcasm thingy).

People better wake the fuck up. The economy is still in a free fall. Unemployment is still increasing and it looks like home values are falling at an accelerating pace. Not only is the economy still in freefall, we haven't even reached terminal velocity.

Once again I have to remind people that the stimulus won't take affect for months, and that this depression is a structural depression where real problems in the markets have to be fixed by transparency and more regulation. The people here and across the country who are screaming shut up because they think that this depression is all caused by "negative, pessimistic thoughts" are going to be in for a rude awakening when our economy truly bottoms. I suggest everyone go back and compare 1929 with 1932. It always can get worse and our government has done nothing to prevent it from worsening so worsening is inevitable. You've been warned.