Home Prices Fall Again -- 11 Cities Where Home Prices Hit New Lows

The much-feared "double-dip" in housing may finally be here, as home prices in 11 major U.S. cities reached new lows in December, according to data released today.

Home prices across 20 major U.S. cities have fallen drastically over the last year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday.

Overall, the composite index fell 3.1 percent, which Bloomberg notes is the biggest year-over-year decrease in over a year. Of the 20 housing markets surveyed, only Washington D.C.'s housing market experienced a positive annual growth rate of 3.6 percent. Home prices in San Diego also rose, but at a negligible rate of 0.1 percent.

"The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery," David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee, said in a statement on the findings. "At most, we have seen all statistics bounce along their troughs; at worst, the feared double-dip recession may be materializing."

Survey results had particularly troubling news for Atlanta, which joins Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas as the fourth city where home prices have fallen to their lowest average since the 1990s.

Of the twenty cities surveyed, Phoenix witnessed the steepest decline in home values from last year (9.1 percent). After that, those cities faring worst were Detroit (8.1), Portland (7.8), and Minneapolis (7.6).

Eleven of the twenty cities posted their lowest average home prices since 2006-07 peaks. Here they are along with their percent decrease in the last year:

• Atlanta, 7.0%


• Charlotte, 4.8%


• Chicago, 7.5%


• Detroit, 8.1%


• Las Vegas, 4.4%


• Miami, 4.7%


• New York, 3.0%


• Phoenix, 9.1%


• Portland (OR), 7.8%


• Seattle, 6.7%


• Tampa, 7.0%

Those same cities previously posted lows in December's report.

Rising foreclosures have wrecked both the housing market and construction industry by creating a glut of empty homes and little reason to build new ones, with the number of homes being constructed falling to its lowest level since 1984. Building permits have also dropped to record lows.

Stubbornly high unemployment, standstill middle-class wages and speculation over whether prices could dip lower have added to potential homebuyers' lagging demand.

The graph below shows index levels for the 10-city and 20-city composite indexes. Both indexes are back to their summer 2003 levels:

Comments

[Abdul Basit Ghani]

07:36 AM on 04/11/2011

This situation is prevailing all over the world and most of the real estate industries in the world are suffering from decline in home prices and according to experts it is expected to get much more worse for several real estate businesses this year however, on the whole 2011 is being expected to be a better year for global real estate industry.

Regards,
http://www.bayut.com

[demilieu]

05:15 PM on 04/02/2011

The same bottomed-out price trend for single family housing is also in Houston, thought Texas seems to usually escape the media reports of bad economic news.

[Realtors Are Liars]

11:48 PM on 04/01/2011

Record High Defaults=CHECK

Record High Foreclosures=CHECK

Record Low Sales=CHECK

Record Price Declines=CHECK

Folks,

DO NOT buy any housing right now.

There is no stabilization in housing until we get back to early 1990's prices, possibly even early 1980's.

Let housing prices and rents collapse and don't get in the way.

[Independent1969]

11:58 AM on 03/31/2011

I'm in the Chicago area and most of the people I know, who own property, are paying toward a mortgage that's around 20-33% higher than what their homes are actually worth. Some more. This new report is terrible news for homeowners and I see no real change coming from the administration.

[amorando]

10:40 PM on 04/02/2011

don't you mean no real changes from the US government. Really the Republican have been running things there ever since Obama got elected, but their filibuster by one in the senate. Look how they got that tax break for the rich.

[Independent1969]

07:42 PM on 04/04/2011

Both parties are guilty. Obama is the head of this sinking ship and I see him doing much more damage than good at the healm. Both parties are influenced by criminal elements and that's always been part of Americas problem.

[anarkoannie]

10:44 AM on 03/31/2011

Chicago is one of the cities, still can't afford a house in my own city.

[HufferDave87]

11:38 PM on 03/30/2011

"The much-feared "double-dip" in housing may finally be here, as home prices in 11 major U.S. cities reached new lows in December, according to data released today."

Is it here, or was it here in December? Or is what was there in December here now? Or can what happened in December tell us what is happening now? Are we Back to the Future? Is time merely a human construct, so that we have always been and will always be at once amidst an economic boom and a double-dip simultaneously? Is it the best of times, and the worst of times?

[spinotter11]

04:13 AM on 03/31/2011

What are you smoking? And it is always the best of times for some, the worst for others, and middling for the rest of us.

[Mister Grumpy]

11:02 PM on 03/30/2011

Note that the housing prices have tanked in those cities with the highest unemployment...........

But then no one in authority will admit that the two situations are related in any way.............

[Amy ShermanKortbein]

09:41 PM on 03/30/2011

You don't have a healthy housing market when the middle class is getting screwed. The wealthy can only buy so many homes. The middle class is scared (as they should be). Rights are being taken from union members, real income has been declining for decades and no one seems to care.
Now all of those people who lost their houses because of foreclosure won't be able to buy another house for 3-7 years.
Sounds like a double dip to me.

[spinotter11]

04:14 AM on 03/31/2011

Fasten your seat belt for a dippy ride.

[Tom95134]

02:48 PM on 03/30/2011

Is it time to look around and find someplace to buy a city block at depressed prices and establish a mini-estate in one of these cities? It couldn't cost too much in someplace like Detroit.

[RJII]

08:50 PM on 03/30/2011

it will probably cost less than the mercedes benz golf cart your need to get around.

[MSROADKILL612]

01:14 PM on 03/30/2011

hubble bubble ...

When prices reduce to replacement cost, thats a correction, when they reduce to $30k, thats a depression.

[k s lavida]

12:58 PM on 03/30/2011

Hmmm, Phoenix fell the most. Of course. Last year they went on a bender against immigrants, and to a lesser extent against Americans of Hispanic origin. So a lot of them left Arizona, leaving vacant homes behind. Supply, meet (lack of) demand. Heck, millions of Mexicans would love to sit out the current drug war on this side of the border, but they're not welcome, and the homes are sitting there. And of course this market imbalance lowers the value of homes for those even the Anglos who remain.
What you sow, you reap.

[builderman55]

11:29 AM on 03/30/2011

If every underwater homeowner walked away from their homes, Wall Street, Big Banks and the government would finally get the message: we have been punished enough for the crimes of the corporate class. A recent article in the WSJ suggested that homeowners need to look at their homes as investments, and when the investment tanks, they should walk away. This would also make those who wag their fingers at underwater homeowners as though it is their fault, shut up. And, just for the record, the MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION, no less, recently walked away from a building they recently bought as their new headquarters, costing the bank over a $2million dollar loss. And they had the gall to tell homeowners that their mortgage contracts were a moral obligation.

[RJII]

08:58 PM on 03/30/2011

fanned. Strategic default or whatever. My moral compass changed after corporate interests bailed out corporate fraud with my taxes.

[spinotter11]

10:35 AM on 03/31/2011

People need a place to live, so where are they all going to move to if everyone under water suddenly decides to abandon ship? Also, smart people never counted on house prices appreciating forever. Sometimes the prices go up and sometimes the prices go down. I would expect a lot more deleveraging in the next few years if I were you. So walk away, man, and stop whining like someone who has been had in a shill game.

[builderman55]

10:54 AM on 03/31/2011

They can rent, or buy another home on a lease option until their credit repairs. And, I'm not whining--I've long since moved on and am rebuilding my life. I lost a $2 million home building business, my home, everything when the housing business collapsed. And yes, we all knew the boom wouldn't last forever, but I remember Greenspan saying about two months before the collapse that there was no housing bubble. I WAS paying attention and still got burned. I would suggest you do some reading, like The Big Short, before you so cavalierly take shots at people.

[demilieu]

05:21 PM on 04/02/2011

There's always a hope prices will recover.

[El Chingaso]

09:48 AM on 03/30/2011

I knew something was amiss in summer 2005 when all the bank-sters and their Wall Street cronies were on the nets talking up residential home sales as the "hottest thing". It was like science fiction, especially in the U.S. where debt levels were through the roof and most manufacturing has been sent off-shore. Disneyland economics, and we all got shafted.

[spinotter11]

10:36 AM on 03/31/2011

Only if you let the shaft in - plenty of smart people did not get shafted.

[demilieu]

05:26 PM on 04/02/2011

Hind sight is 20-20. In 2005 you've been hard pressed to find anyone who didn't think it was a great time to jump into home ownership.

[p456]

08:09 AM on 03/30/2011

If you are a republican and you lost your home I don't feel sorry for you. Have a good time being homeless, broke, unemployed and living off of scraps in the dumpster. And when I see you standing around with the I will work for food sign, It brings a smile to may face.

[RJII]

09:00 PM on 03/30/2011

Ha! And they'll still will be waiting for the trickle down.

[Mister Grumpy]

11:04 PM on 03/30/2011

And when they start feeling the trickling.......... how soon will they realize its not water?

[spinotter11]

04:16 AM on 03/31/2011

Look, people vote for the candidates who they think will do the best job. It's not their fault if they swallowed the Republican propaganda instead of the Democratic propaganda. There's not much difference anyway.

[p456]

07:04 AM on 03/31/2011

Fighting exclusively on behalf of the rich is what the GOPTbaggers do. I would say that is a major difference. The GOPTbaggers promised to pass legislation that would put America back to work but I have not seen them do anything worth while since they won the congress. And these new republican governors are doing all they can to bust unions and they have a united front to continue working against the president. I have never seen democrats come out against poor, working and middle class people like this. I disagree with you about them not being much different, but I still say anyone who is not rich who votes for a republican is a "F00L"