This one is no real surprise since the double dip in home prices is accelerating….
From Bloomberg by Shobhana Chandra entitled: Home Prices in Us. Declined 1.6% From Year Earlie
“Residential real-estate prices dropped in November by the most in a year, signaling housing has yet to join the U.S. rebound.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home values in 20 cities fell 1.6 percent from November the prior year, the biggest 12-month decrease since December 2009, the group said today in New York. The decline matched the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
“The housing market is in a state of hibernation,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York. “We have a very severe foreclosure problem. Prices are going to keep weakening this year. Weakness in the housing market is likely to keep the Fed relatively cautious in its statement tomorrow.”
The Case-Shiller gauge is based on a three-month average, which means the November data was influenced by transactions in October and September.
Sixteen of the 20 cities in the index showed a year-over- year decline, led by a 7.9 percent drop in Atlanta. In November, prices in eight markets dropped to fresh lows from their 2006, 2007 peaks.
“With these numbers more analysts will be calling for a double-dip in home prices,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, said in a statement. A double-dip would be reached when the 20-city index sets a new post-peak low, which may happen in the first half of this year, said Blitzer.
Industry projections reinforce the concern about housing. The number of homes receiving a foreclosure filing will climb about 20 percent in 2011, reaching a peak for the housing crisis, said RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based data seller.
Home values may drop as much as 11 percent through the first quarter of 2012, which would put them 36 percent below their 2006 peak, according to a Dec. 8 Morgan Stanley report.”
From the looks of this report, it is shaping up to be another tough Spring.
Related Articles:
2011 Housing Market Forecast
Case-Shiller Index Screams Housing Double Dip
Meredith Whitney Predicts a Housing Double-Dip
Zandi: Expect 8% Home Price Declines
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