S&P/Case-Shiller Index February 2012: Home Prices In Major U.S. Cities Dropped For The Sixth Month

WASHINGTON -- Home prices dropped in February in most major U.S. cities for a sixth straight month, a sign that modest sales gains haven't been enough to boost prices.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index shows that prices dropped in February from January in 16 of the 20 cities it tracks.

The steepest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Cleveland. Prices rose in Phoenix, San Diego and Miami. They were unchanged in Dallas.

The declines partly reflect typical offseason sales. The month-to-month prices aren't adjusted for seasonal factors.

Still, prices fell in 15 of the 20 cities in February compared with the same month in 2011. That indicates that the housing market remains far from healthy despite the best winter for sales in five years.

The steady price declines have brought the nationwide index to its late 2002 level. Home prices have fallen 35 percent since the housing bust.

Prices in nine cities fell to their lowest levels since the housing bust. The average price in Atlanta fell 17.3 percent in February compared with a year earlier. That's the biggest annual drop in the history of the index for any city.

Still, there were some positive signs in the report: Phoenix, one of the cities hit hardest by the housing bust, has seen five straight monthly gains. And most cities are reporting smaller annual declines than in previous months.

The S&P/Case-Shiller monthly index covers half of all U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The February figures are the latest available.

Stan Humphries, chief economist for housing website Zillow.com, attributed the declines in part to heavy sales of foreclosed homes, which are usually sold at super-low prices. Foreclosures made up about one-fifth of February's sales.

"We think home sales will continue to trend upward, which ultimately will result in a slower rate of home value depreciation," Humphries said. "But any housing recovery will be dependent on job growth."

Job growth has slowed but is still occurring at faster pace than last year. Employers added an average of 212,000 jobs a month from January through March. That helped push down the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent from 9.1 percent last August.

Some recent reports suggest that the housing market is slowly improving.

January and February made up the best winter for sales of previously occupied homes in five years, when the housing crisis began. The 4.63 million annual sales pace in January was the highest since May 2010, the last month that buyers could qualify for a federal home-buying tax credit.

Builders are laying plans to construct more homes in 2012 than at any other point in past 3 1/2 years. More jobs and a better outlook among buyers could also make 2012 the first year since 2008 that construction adds to the U.S. economy.

Comments

[Bob The Boilermaker]

09:10 AM on 04/25/2012

Wow. I had no idea that being President was really a Magical Wizard position. I mean really? You think GW or Obama or Congress really had THAT much magical power/effect as to create and implement the housing market bubble explosion? Really? Greed was responsible. Plain and simple.People who couldn't afford to buy and shouldn't have bought homes were encouraged to "lie" by unscrupulous people who wrote and sold mortgages as fast as they could write them, not caring whether people actually made the "wages" they claimed so they could get, "qualified"? Banks who bought those "bundled mortgages" then sold them to clients/investors after betting they would fail.(can you say Goldman-Sachs). G-R-E-E-D, period plain and simple.

[katiekatt551]

08:51 AM on 04/25/2012

I think in most regions the homes are way overpriced as it is. In the New York, New Jersey area, the home prices are ridiculously high Its next to impossible for the average hard working citizen to afford to purchase a home. So it seems that only if your wealthy can you achieve the aamerican dream. Prices should fall to reasonable prices.

[obame]

08:39 AM on 04/25/2012

that damn Bush

[JubalTHarshaw]

08:36 AM on 04/25/2012

Its not just a housing problem. "The Commerce Department reports orders for long-lasting goods plunged 4.2% in March, the biggest decline since January 2009 and a significantly steeper drop than the 1.7% expected. Excluding the transportation segment, orders were down 1.1%. Economists had been expecting a 0.5% gain."

[larrystenli]

08:34 AM on 04/25/2012

this is easy to fix. We take all of the solar panels that solyndra made.(it's not like they are ever going to sell) and build new homes out of them. the GSA can run this program and we can call it BoBo the clown resort and spa.

[notwithmycash]

08:34 AM on 04/25/2012

Soon every city in the country will be named Obamaville.

[Billybladerunner]

08:30 AM on 04/25/2012

Wait for it ......Wait for it .......... ............................This is all George Bush's Fault

[ectullis]

08:23 AM on 04/25/2012

How low can you go?

[JubalTHarshaw]

08:21 AM on 04/25/2012

Mr. Humphries seems to have ignored the backlog of foreclosures when he asserts "We think home sales will continue to trend upward, which ultimately will result in a slower rate of home value depreciation,” I recently attended a tax foreclosure auction for a client and was told that in the state of Connecticut alone there is a backlog of 97,000 foreclosures. We haven't seen the bottom yet.

[notwithmycash]

08:35 AM on 04/25/2012

All this despite the presidents 2 big programs to ease foreclosures. Add it the the "fail" list.

[vrgncrrll]

08:44 AM on 04/25/2012

If we had a Republican administration in office, the posts on this site would be unbelievably vicious, but since it's been over 3 years and Obama owns it, there's not a whisper. Remember, everything bad is Bush's fault.

[elfin12u]

05:42 PM on 04/26/2012

The programs are in place but the banks aren't really playing along. Many more customers that have sought relief through the programs have received nothing more than a runaround, than those who have completed successful permanent modifications.

Those behind on their mortgages have been put through trial modifications of monthly payment reductions (with the prospect of having the length of the loan increased) only to have the bank turn around and tell them they didn't qualify, raise the monthly payment to cover the previous 3 month's trial modification shortfall, and send them on their way.

[rkller900]

08:18 AM on 04/25/2012

Home prices where I live have been stable through out all this mess. Why? Greed (like mad cow disease) didnt affect our area. What the true value of a home is, stays that way and might get adjusted for depreciation or appreciation which are SMALL increments, not 20 or 100% , Sure everyone wants to buy a home for 200K and sell it for 350K but get real, its a fake number that wont have any staying power. Greed of homebuyers / sellers created this, Big banks helped but it wasnt ALL their fault. Act irresponsibly and pay the price, both Big banks,,, (oops they get a bail out) and homebuyers ( not much of a bail out).

[Gardenpass]

08:17 AM on 04/25/2012

After adjusting for inflation:
When we can get housing prices down to 1939 levels like wages are, people can start buying again.
Simple math.

[OldTulsan]

02:48 PM on 04/25/2012

Workers' share of national income is at an ALL-TIME low, while corporate profits are soaring.

There can be no recovery under those conditions.

[Jack Marse]

07:53 AM on 04/25/2012

Funky Cold Medina.

[treasuredtrophie]

07:38 AM on 04/25/2012

I degree another executive order home values will not go down.

[Jack Marse]

07:38 AM on 04/25/2012

Consumers 70% of GDP (on borrowed money), house price still trending down...market up!

[OldTulsan]

02:51 PM on 04/25/2012

The new jobs are mostly minimum-wage or sub-minimum-wage (waiters/waitresses).

Workers' share of national income is at an ALL-TIME low.

The U.S. economy can no longer be 70%-driven by consumers.

The Iron Law of Wages:

"The doctrine or theory that wages tend toward a level sufficient only to maintain a subsistence standard of living. "

[septsong]

07:31 AM on 04/25/2012

face it.. Obama could not fix a flat tire.. wake up folks... this nightmare may never be reversed if he is re-elected... I fear for all of us...