S & P: “No evidence of a bottom” in housing

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The Case-Shiller index of home prices showed the 10th month in a row of record-setting price declines in July, with prices in Los Angeles falling 26.2% from July 2007 to July 2008.

Standard & Poor’s, which publishes the monthly index, noted that pace of price declines is slowing, but there is, ‘no evidence of a bottom’ in housing prices. S&P economist David Blitzer: ‘Little positive news can be found when cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix report annual declines as large as 29.9% and 29.3% respectively, and all 20 cities are still in negative territory on a year-over-year basis.’

The Case-Shiller index of 20 large cities showed price declines of 16.3% in the year ending in July, and the index of 10 large cities showed declines of 17.5%.

The index does not translate into a dollar amount for average or median home prices. Some analysts believe it probably overstates price declines on a national basis because the index measures prices in large cities, where the housing bubble was more pronounced.

-- Peter Viles

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