Home Prices Fell 4.5 Percent In Last Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. -Home appreciation rates vary significantly among the nation’s top markets, according to the latest monthly S&P/Case-Shiller home price statistics that track the nation’s 20 largest metro areas.

“We need to put these numbers in proper historical context by analyzing them over the long term, rather than in one-year increments,” said Brian Catalde, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from El Segundo, Calif. “The statistics released today also reaffirm that all housing markets are local, and conditions in them are dictated by the local economy and job market.”

Among the top 20 markets surveyed by S&P/Case-Shiller, which represent more than 40 percent of the U.S. population, five showed positive home price appreciation rates over the past year, seven posted declines of less than 5 percent, and eight metro areas registered losses of between 5 and 10 percent.

With the exception of Detroit, which has suffered significant job losses in manufacturing during the past several years, markets that posted the largest average decline in home prices during the past year – Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa and Washington, D.C. – have appreciated in value by more than 100 percent since January 2000.

“It makes sense that the most super-heated housing markets in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida are now experiencing the most serious market corrections,” said Catalde. “Though housing is a cyclical business, experience shows that over time, home prices will stabilize and then move upward with the next recovery.”

While the home price statistics for the 20 largest markets showed a 4.9 percent year-over-year decline, the same markets have appreciated in value by more than 95 percent since January 2000.

On a national level, home prices fell 4.5 percent between September 2006 and September 2007. However, since January of 2000, home prices have increased by more than 80 percent, indicating that housing remains a solid long-term investment.