U.S. Home Prices Fell at Record Pace in October: Report

A leading measure of U.S. home prices recorded broad-based declines during September, marking the 10th consecutive month of negative annual returns and the 23rd consecutive month of decelerating returns. According to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, released Wednesday, home prices declined at a faster pace in October than in September — with the 10-city composite registering a record 6.7 percent annual decline. The previous largest decline was recorded in April 1991, at 6.3 percent. “No matter how you look at these data, it is obvious that the current state of the single-family housing market remains grim,â€? said Robert J. Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC and the namesake for the indices. “Not only did the 10-City Composite post a record low in its annual growth rate, but 11 of the 20 metro areas did the same. If you look at the monthly figures, every MSA went down in both October and September. Eleven of the 20 MSAs, in addition to the two composites, recorded their single largest monthly decline on record in October. For both the 10-City and 20-City composites this was a decline of 1.4 percent over September.â€? Miami recorded the largest monthly price drop, falling -2.1 percent between September and October — driving the metro area to a -12.4 percent annual price decline, the largest of any of the 20 MSA’s tracked by the Case-Shiller indices. Phoenix recorded a -10.6 annual drop, while Los Angeles recorded a -8.8 percent annual drop in prices during October. No metro area registered a positive monthly price trend, according to the data. Only three metro areas recorded a positive annual change in housing prices: Charlotte (+4.3 percent), Seattle (+3.3 percent), and Portland (+1.9 percent). For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com.