The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. national home price index fell 14.1 percent in the first three months of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier. The decline was the largest in 20 years for the index, which covers all U.S. Census divisions.

In addition to the quarterly national index, Case-Shiller released data showing record monthly declines in major U.S. metropolitan areas.

Its monthly index of 20 cities posted a record price decline in March of 14.4 percent from March 2007.

Las Vegas showed the biggest year-over-year drop in March (down 25.9 percent), followed by Miami (24.6 percent) and Phoenix (23 percent). Charlotte, N.C., was the only city among the 20 to record a March price increase (0.8 percent).

The Case-Shiller index compares the latest sales of detached houses to previous sales and accounts for factors such as remodeling that might affect a house’s sale price over time. It excludes foreclosures. From those data, an index score is created to show price changes.

More bleak housing news came Tuesday from the U.S. Commerce Department, which reported that April home sales were down 42 percent from the same month a year earlier.

The traditional March-to-April bounce in home sales was also much smaller than in previous years. April sales were up 3.3 percent from March this year.

In 2007, sales rose 10 percent from March to April.

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click hereSharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 800 characters max

Receive China Post promos

Respond to this email