Home Prices Fall at Record Rate

Washington Post (06/25/08) P. D2
U.S. home prices fell at a record clip in April, according to private and government indexes. The 15.3-percent decline in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities from April 2007 represents the fastest drop since the survey debuted in 2000 and the first time that all 20 metropolitan areas included posted annual declines. Even the 10-city index, which fell 16.3 percent, had its biggest decline in its more than 20-year history. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight survey, meanwhile, reports that home prices fell 4.6 percent from the index peak last April. The decrease represents the biggest monthly decline since the OFHEO index was introduced in 1991.