Nationwide Drop in Home Prices
An article published by Market Watch takes a look at the falling home prices in every region of the country. According to the article:
- Home prices fell in September in all 20 major cities covered by the Case-Shiller price index, even in cities that had been holding up before the August freeze in mortgage markets, Standard & Poor’s reported.
- For the national Case-Shiller home price index, prices fell 1.7% in the third quarter compared with the second quarter, and were down a record 4.5% in the past year. It was the largest quarter-to-quarter price decline in the 20 years covered by the index.
- For the 20 cities, prices fell a record 4.9% year-over-year. Meanwhile, prices were down 5.5% year-over-year in the original 10-city index, the largest drop in the 10-city index since 1991.
- The last time prices fell so much, it took more than eight years for home prices to return to their peak level.
- “We judge the recent decline in home prices to be the beginning of an extended decline,” wrote Drew Matus, an economist for Lehman Bros., who said prices would probably fall 15% from peak to trough nationally.
It’s no surprise that the housing market has been declining. Still, it can be hard to see the numbers and realize just how badly things are doing. It is good, however, to note that this isn’t the first time the housing market has suffered so badly. It took a while, but the market eventually recovered. We should have no reason to doubt that this will happen again once everyone finds a way to get out of debt. The next few years may be rough, but it won’t be the end of the world.
November 29, 2007 | Filed Under Get Out of Debt
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