Home Prices Continue to Fall
Index Shows Drop Of 4.4% in August For 20 Metro Areas
By REX NUTTING October 31, 2007; Page D3
Home prices continue to fall in most major U.S. metropolitan areas, according to the latest update of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indexes.
Prices of single-family homes in 20 major U.S. metro areas in August were down an average of 4.4% from a year earlier, Standard & Poor's, a division of McGraw-Hill Cos., reported yesterday. Prices in those metro areas fell an average of 0.8% from July to August, the fastest monthly decline in the seven-year history of the 20-city index.
Prices as measured by this index have been down from a year earlier for eight straight months.
"The fall in home prices is showing no real signs of a slowdown or turnaround," said Robert J. Shiller, co-creator of the index and chief economist for MacroMarkets LLC.
The Case-Shiller indexes track multiple sales of the same homes in an attempt to screen out price differences caused by shifts in the size and type of houses being sold. Some housing economists consider these indexes the best gauge of national and metro real-estate values.
The biggest declines are in the Rust Belt and in the former boom towns near the coasts. In the Tampa, Fla., area, prices were down about 10% from a year earlier. Prices continued to rise, though at a more modest rate, in parts of the Pacific Northwest and the South.
Eight of the 20 metro areas recorded their largest-ever year-over-year declines in August. Prices were up in five metro areas, led by Seattle with a 5.7% increase and Charlotte, N.C., with 5.6%.
Atlanta, GA is up 0.8%
This most important thing to remember when reading articles like this is that there are three markets:
The National Market
The Metro Market (Atlanta)
The Micro Market
The micro market should be of the most concern to you when buying a home or selling. You need to pay attention to what is happening on your street and in your neighborhood. Many of the neighborhoods in Atlanta are still experiencing gains and increases in the price of homes sold. So, while Atlanta is still up .08%, many neighborhoods are up much higher.
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The above information is believed to be accurate, but is not warranted.
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