Case-Shiller Indexes End 2011 With New Lows

The Case Shiller Home Price Indexes dropped to new index lows at the end of 2011, Standard & Poor’s, which compiles the indices, reported Tuesday morning. Prices are at their lowest level since before the housing crisis began in 2006.

The 10-city index dipped to 149.89, its lowest level of the year and the lowest level since June 2003. The broader 20-city index fell to 136.71, also a 2011 low and the lowest level since February 2003.
The national index – compiled quarterly – dropped to 125.67, its low for the year and the lowest level since the second quarter of 2002.
Prices in each of the monthly index reports fell for the fourth straight month. The price indexes hit a cyclical peak in mid-2010 coincident with the federal homebuyer tax credit program, but have fallen in 12 of the 17 months since with no gain in home sales. From mid-2010 until December 2011, existing home sales fell 16.7 percent, despite a price plunge
Prices dropped in 18 of the 20 cities sampled in the monthly survey. The only exceptions were Miami and Phoenix, where prices rose 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
The steepest month-month decline was 3.8 percent in Detroit followed by 2.0 percent in Chicago, 1.8 percent in Atlanta and in Minneapolis.
Prices fell year-over-year in every city in the sample except Detroit, where prices in December 2011 were up 0.5 percent from December 2010. Year-over-year, the largest price drops were in Atlanta where prices fell 12.8 percent, followed by Las Vegas, down 8.8 percent and Chicago at 6.5 percent.
Since peaking in June 2006, the 10-city index is down 48.1 percent and the 20-city index, which peaked one month later, is off 47.7 percent.