Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices Reveal Continuing Decline in U.S. Home Prices

Though not all markets are experiencing the wrenching decline in housing prices tracked in the S & P Home Prices Indices this month, the picture remains pretty gloomy for the usual suspects. Southern California, San Francisco, Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix continue to take a drubbing. Keeping it all in context, those markets also enjoyed super-heated appreciation rates over recent years; anywhere from thirty to fifty percent per annum. For many home buyers who purchased this decade, the net gains remain positive.

Only Charlotte, N.C. finds itself in the plus column. The Pacific Northwestern metropolises of Portland and Seattle are holding their own with small declines, rates of three percent or less.