WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities fell at a faster pace in July, sending home values down a record 16.3% in the past year, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's.
July's prices fell 0.9%, an uptick from a 0.5% drop in June, and "may be the beginning of a renewed acceleration in the depreciation of U.S. house prices," said Harm Bandholz, economist for UniCredit Markets.
Prices fell in 13 of the 20 cities tracked in the index during July, but prices in all 20 metropolitan areas were lower in July than they were a year earlier.
Las Vegas and Phoenix -- hotbeds of the housing bubble -- remained the weakest cities, falling nearly 30% in the past year. Prices in Las Vegas sank 2.8% in July, while prices in Phoenix dropped 2.7%.
In Case-Shiller's smaller 10-city index, prices dropped by 1.1% in July and by 17.5% in the past year.
Economists expect further price declines, especially if financial markets continue to be unsettled and credit remains tight. The declines in home prices should bottom late next year or in 2010, said Adam York, an economist for Wachovia Securities.
All told, prices are down 19.5% from the peak in July 2006.
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