8 of 20 Major Metro Areas Record Largest Year-Over-Year Home Price Declines on Record

Published Nov 01, 2007 | RSS Feed

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The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the best gauge of metro area home prices, show further home price declines across the United States. During the month of August, home prices fell at a record pace, indicating the market is nowhere near bottom.

Home Price Index: 20 Metro Areas*

Metro Area	Aug 2006 Level	Aug 2007 Level	% Chg
Atlanta	135.27	136.41	0.8%
Boston	177.28	170.86	-3.6%
Charlotte	128.72	135.88	5.6%
Chicago	167.99	165.77	-1.3%
Cleveland	123.39	118.36	-4.1%
Dallas	125.71	126.32	0.5%
Denver	140.27	139.70	-0.4%
Detroit	123.00	111.58	-9.3%
Las Vegas	234.78	216.83	-7.6%
Los Angeles	273.80	258.07	-5.7%
Miami	276.80	255.29	-7.8%
Minneapolis	170.97	164.18	-4.0%
New York	214.34	206.20	-3.8%
Phoenix	227.01	208.86	-8.0%
Portland	181.02	186.00	2.8%
San Diego	247.30	226.73	-8.3%
San Francisco	217.22	208.15	-4.2%
Seattle	181.84	192.14	5.7%
Tampa	236.82	212.92	-10.1%
Washington	247.94	230.02	-7.2%
Composite	206.18	197.16	-4.4%

Source: Standard and Poor's

Because the Case-Shiller 20 city index has tracked multiple sales of the same homes over the last seven years, it is considered to be one of the best measurements of both national and metropolitan area home values.

According to the index released yesterday, single-family home prices are falling fast in the 16 of the 20 metro areas included in the index. The Composite, which is a value-weighted average of the 20 metro area indices, dropped 4.4 percent in a year-over-year comparison.

Eight of the 20 metro areas (Cleveland, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa and Washington D.C.) exhibited the lowest recorded annual returns on record. Tampa posted a double-digit decline in a year-over-year comparison. Detroit and San Diego weren't far behind, declining 9.3 percent and 8.3 percent respectively.

'At both the national and metro area levels, the fall in home prices is showing no real signs of a slowdown or turnaround,' said Robert J. Shiller in a press release. 'Year-over-year and monthly price returns are continuing to either move deeper into negative territory or are experiencing persistent diminishing returns. There is really no positive news in today's report, as most of the metro areas are showing declining or vanishing returns on both an annual and monthly basis.'

*Levels in the index should not be confused with actual home prices. The base level of the index was 100 in 2000, which means a current index value of 118.36 for Cleveland translates into an 18% appreciation rate for that metro market since January 2000 versus a median home price of $118,000.

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