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everywhere except Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Portland and Seattle [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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Home Prices Show Record Drop


By TSC Staff
11/27/2007 11:06 AM EST Try Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS
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An index tracking national housing prices showed record declines for the third quarter as the real estate market continued to deteriorate in almost all metropolitan areas.

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index dropped 1.7% from the second quarter and 4.5% from last year's third quarter, Standard & Poor's said Tuesday. The index covers all nine U.S. census divisions.

The drop from the second quarter marks the largest sequential decline in the index's 21-year history, while the year-over-year fall was the second consecutive record low.

"Consistent with prior 2007 reports, there is no real positive news in today's data," said Robert Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC and co-creator of the index. "Most of the metro areas continue to show declining or decelerating returns on both an annual and monthly basis."

In September, all the metropolitan areas tracked by the 20-city composite index showed price declines from August. Just five areas -- Atlanta; Charlotte; Dallas; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle -- saw flat or positive growth on a year-over-year basis.

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