U.S. Home Prices hit Lowest Point Since 2002
While Canadian investors have started to heat up some American markets such as Phoenix, overall U.S. home prices have continued their slide, numbers out Monday show.
The single-family home price in the U.S. fell 0.8% in February, hitting its lowest point since October 2002, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Schiller composite index. On a seasonally adjusted basis, however, prices rose for the first time in 10 months.
Nine U.S. cities hit post-bubble lows, said S&P spokesman David Blitzer. Those markets were Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York.
“While there might be pieces of good news in the report, such as some improvement in many annual rates of return, February 2012 data confirm that, broadly speaking, home prices continued to decline in the early months of the year,” said Blitzer.
Canadian snowbird favorites Miami, San Diego and Phoenix saw price gains in February, however. Phoenix had the largest positive shift, up 1.2% from January, while Miami was up 0.6% and San Diego up 0.2%. Chicago and Atlanta fared worst, both down 2.5%.
Just over a decade ago, San Francisco had the highest ranking on the index at 134.38, but it now ranks below the national average. The current highest scorer on the price index is Washington D.C., boosted by the stability of government jobs, at 175.74. Detroit is the lowest at 69.51.
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