Home Prices Drop At A Slower Rate

2009 June 30

S&P/Case-Shiller index down 18.1% year over year, but monthly drop narrows to 0.6% in April

Home prices continued to tumble in April, falling 18.1% from a year earlier — but the change from March narrowed sharply, indicating that housing markets may be starting to turn.

The 20-city slice of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price index recorded a drop of 0.6% from March to April, compared with a 2.2% drop in the prior month. The index has declined every month since July 2006.

“The pace of decline in residential real estate slowed in April,” says David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “Thirteen of the 20 metro areas also saw improvement in their annual return compared to that of March.”

Not only that but every metro area save one — Charlotte, N.C. — reported improvement in their monthly return compared with March.

“While one month’s data cannot determine if a turnaround has begun, it seems that some stabilization may be appearing in some of the regions,” said Blitzer. “We are entering the seasonally strong period in the housing market, so it will take some time to determine if a recovery is really here.”

Home prices drop, but at a slower rate

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