Can't ... keep ... home ... prices ... from ... falling

Standard and Poor's released the February data for the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showing a 12.7 percent year-over-year decline for the 20-City Composite Index, the steepest decline on record. Indices for individual cities are shown below:David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's noted:

There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers. Prices of single family homes continue to drop across the nation. All 20 metro areas were in the red for the February-over-January reading. In addition, 19 of the 20 MSAs are still reporting negative annual returns. The monthly data show that every one of the MSAs has now declined every month since September 2007, marking six consecutive months. On top of that, the declines have remained steep with eight of the 20 MSAs and both composites reporting their single largest monthly decline in February.

In tabular form, the data looks like this:
Three cities now sport year-over-year declines of more than 20 percent - former high-fliers Las Vegas at -22.8 percent, Miami at -21.7 percent, and Phoenix at -20.8 percent. Two areas in the Golden State - Los Angeles at -19.4 and San Diego at -19.2 - look like they're ready to join that club next month.

Charlotte remains the only metropolitan area in the index with a gain from year ago levels with a modest 1.5 percent increase.