Home prices fall by record amount

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index fell a record 4.5 percent in September from year-ago levels - Florida appears to be leading the way down.
The chart above is compiled from data at MacroMarkets where the nation's leading measure of home prices is updated monthly.

The most recent data is shown in tabular form below - Seattle (+4.7 percent), Charlotte (+4.7 percent), Portland (+2.2 percent), Atlanta (+0.4 percent), and Dallas (+0.2 percent) are the only cities in the 20-city index with year-over-year gains.

All of the former high-fliers at the top of the chart above are in a steep decline, led by Tampa (-11.1 percent) and Miami (-10.0 percent).

Robert Shiller had the following comments:

The declines in the national figure are notable for two reasons. First, the 3rd quarter decline, at 1.7%, was the largest quarterly decline in the index’s 21-year history. And, second, the year-over-year decline posted its second consecutive record low at -4.5%. Consistent with prior 2007 reports, there is no real positive news in today’s data. Most of the metro areas continue to show declining or decelerating returns on both an annual and monthly basis. All 20 metro areas were in decline in September over August. Even the five metro areas that still have positive annual growth rates -- Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Portland and Seattle -- show continued deceleration in returns.

Given how far prices have risen in some areas and the current state of affairs in mortgage lending, it's a good bet that this new record will be broken in the fourth quarter.