U.S. Home Prices Drop Sharply in First Quarter

New York Newsday (05/28/08)
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices registered a 14.1-percent decline nationally and a 14.4-percent drop in a subset of 20 metro areas during the first quarter. Of the 20 metro areas studied, only Charlotte, N.C., posted a gain in home prices--which rose locally by 0.8 percent for the first three months of the year. Half a dozen metro areas recorded declines greater than 20 percent, with home prices falling 25.9 percent in Las Vegas, 24.6 percent in Miami, 23 percent in Phoenix, 21.7 percent in Los Angeles, 20.5 percent in San Diego and 20.2 percent in San Francisco. In related news, the Commerce Department reported a 3.3-percent jump in new-home sales in April to an annual rate of 526,000, marking the first increase in six months.