Market Conditions

According to a recent report from the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices fell dramatically in August -- by 16.6 percent from the year before. This drop paled in comparison to the drop in once hot spots of Las Vegas and Phoenix. Prices there fell 30 percent from August 2007. "The downturn in residential real estate prices continued, with very few bright spots in the data," says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "The 10-City Composite and the 20-City Composite reported record 12-month declines. Furthermore, for the fifth (5th) straight month, every region reported negative annual returns. This started when Charlotte, NC, was the last region to turn negative back in April 2008." The New York Times reports that "national home prices, based on the monthly trend, will probably fall at a faster pace in the third quarter than in the second quarter, even after accounting for seasonal distortions, with the downward pressure on home prices to continue through the end of next year," this coming from Barclay economist Michelle Meyer. Published: October 29, 2008