The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) released a report this week saying for the first time in 13 years, home prices in the United States have experienced a quarterly fall.

OFHEO’s House Price Index (HPI), which analyzes data on sales and refinance transactions, reported a 0.4-percent drop in house prices between the second and third quarter of 2007.
“While select markets still maintain robust rates of appreciation, our newest data show price weakening in a very significant portion of the country,” said James Lockhart, OFHEO’s director. Indeed, in the third quarter, more than 20 states experienced price declines and, in some cases, those declines are substantial.”
According to OFHEO’s latest report, some of the markets experiencing significant price declines are the same cities where price increases were making headlines a few years ago. OFHEO says it’s possible the price declines in those particular markets are part of a natural price correction process.
Click here to read OFHEO’s full report.