The new year didn’t change the downward spiral of residential real estate prices, according to the home price data released on Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s (S&P).
Data through January 2009 from the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, reveals continued broad-based declines in the values of existing single family homes across the United States, with 13 of the 20 metro areas tracked showing record rates of annual decline, and 14 reporting declines in excess of 10 percent.
Following the lead of the individual metro areas, S&P reported that the 10-City and 20-City Composites also set new records, with annual declines of 19.4 percent and 19.0 percent, respectively.
David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, commented, “There are very few bright spots that one can see in the data. Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path, with all of the 20 metro areas reporting annual declines, and nine…falling more than 20 percent in the last year.”

Blitzer added that both the 10-City and 20-City Composites have registered consecutive annual record declines since October 2007. The monthly data follows a similar trend, with the composites showing thirty consecutive months of negative returns.
Based on S&P’s market data, as of January 2009, average home prices across the United States are at similar levels to what they were in late 2003. From their peak in the second quarter of 2006, the 10-City Composite is down 30.2 percent and the 20-City Composite has dropped 29.1 percent.
On a regional basis, all 20 metro areas studied are reporting negative monthly and annual rates of change in average home prices for the month of January, and every metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has seen at least five consecutive months of decline, dating back to September 2008.
The three worst performing cities, in terms of annual declines, continue to be from the Sunbelt, each reporting negative returns in excess of 30 percent. Phoenix was down 35 percent, Las Vegas declined 32.5 percent, and San Francisco fell 32.4 percent.
Dallas (-4.9 percent), Denver (-5.1 percent), and Cleveland (-5.2 percent) faired the best in terms of annual declines.
Looking at S&P’s data from peak-thru-January 2009, Dallas is the least hurt, down 10.8 percent from its peak in June 2007, while Phoenix is down 48.5 percent from its peak in June of 2006. The rates of decline from the individual heights of each market are evidence of how much the market has taken back in terms of gains earned in the past 10-15 years. S&P notes that all of the 20 metro areas are in double digit declines from their peaks.