Home prices fell at the fastest annual rate ever in the first quarter, but the pace of month-to-month declines continues to slow, a closely watched housing index showed today. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller National Home Price index reported home prices tumbled by 19.1% in the first quarter, the most in its 21-year history. Home prices have fallen 32.2% since peaking in the second quarter of 2006 and are at levels not seen since the end of 2002.
The 20-city index fell by 18.7% in March from the year before and the 10-city index lost 18.6%. Those declines were a bit better than February’s and marked the second straight month the indexes didn’t post record drops. Still, there are no signs home prices have hit bottom. “We see no evidence that a recovery in home prices has begun,” says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee.
