August housing prices take biggest fall in index history

by Tina Kells | October 28, 2008 at 11:59 am

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August housing prices in the United States took the biggest fall in the history of the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index record, decreasing nearly 17% over 2007 levels. The 10-city housing index also experience a record decline of nearly 18% year-over-year, the largest in its 21-year history. This marks the 20th consecutive month that both indices have shown United States housing prices in decline.

Home prices tumbled by the sharpest annual rate ever in August, with little indication of a turnaround in sight, a closely watched index showed Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index dropped a record 16.6 percent from August last year, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index plunged 17.7 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history.

Both indices have recorded year-over-year declines for 20 consecutive months.

"The downturn in residential real estate prices continued, with very few bright spots in the data," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P.

Prices in the 20-city index have plummeted more than 20 percent since peaking in July 2006. The 10-city index has fallen nearly 22 percent since its peak in June 2006.

No city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw annual price gains in August - for the fifth straight month.