Home Prices Dive, Indicate Gloomy '12

Case-Shiller Home Price Index reverses 5 months of gains

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 28, 2011 8:02 AM CST

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Home Prices Dive, Indicate Gloomy '12 — In this June 23, 2009 photo, a "reduced price" sign is seen on a home for sale in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

After five straight months of gains through August, many market watchers had hoped home prices were finally trekking northward for good. No such luck: According to the just-released S&P/Case-Shiller Index, home prices fell in 19 of the nation’s 20 largest cities from September to October, bringing the index 3.4% lower than it was at this time last year. And while prices usually trend downward in the fall, the LA Times believes these figures portend a weak market in 2012.

“In the October data, the only good news is some improvement in the annual rates of change in home prices,” said the chairman of S&P’s index committee, with 14 markets seeing prices at least fall more slowly. The lone city to post a gain was Phoenix, and that was just 0.3%. The biggest loser, meanwhile, was Atlanta, where prices dropped 5%. (Read more S&P stories.)