Home prices continue to plunge

Macromarkets released the December data(.pdf) for the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showing a 9.8 percent year-over-year decline for the 10-City Composite Index, the steepest decline on record. Indices for individual cities are shown below:
Robert Shiller, Chief Economist at MacroMarkets LLC, commented:

“We reached a somber year-end for the housing market in 2007. Home prices across the nation and in most metro areas are significantly lower than where they were a year ago. Wherever you look things look bleak, with 17 of the 20 metro areas reporting annual declines and the remaining three reporting flat or moderate growth rates. Looking closely at these negative returns, you will see that 14 of the metro areas are also reporting record lows and eight are in double digit decline. The monthly data paint a similar picture, with all metro areas now reporting at least four consecutive negative monthly returns.”

In tabular form, the December data looks like this:
Miami showed the biggest annual decline at minus 17.5 percent, followed by Las Vegas and Phoenix that were tied at minus 15.3 percent.