Housing prices continue to cascade.
According to the new S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, home prices dropped nearly 19% in the fourth quarter, a record.
In the ten largest cities in the US, the decline topped 19%.
Since home prices peaked in Q2 2006, they have plunged 26%.
The data raise the question of whether the new mortgage assistance package being proposed by the Administration can stop falling real estate prices or whether that money would come into the market “behind the curve” of price contraction. The inventory of homes on the market may be so large that supporting people who want to stay in their homes would have very little effect on the much larger market of “for sale” and abandoned home.
Certainly, the task of putting a floor under the housing prices is getting much, much harder.
Douglas A. McIntrye
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