US Housing Crash Continues .....

[El-Basha]

http://money.cnn.com/news/

Home prices plunge 14.1% in first quarter
Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller study shows record decline for housing prices in first three months of 2008.


NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter, a closely watched index showed Tuesday. It's a somber indication that the housing slump continues to deepen.

Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller said its national home price index fell 14.1% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, to its lowest level since its inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.

The narrower indices also set record declines. The 20-city index tumbled 14.4% during the quarter, the lowest since that index was started in 2001. The 10-city index plunged 15.3%, a record in its 20-year history.

"There are very few silver linings that one can see in the data. Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path," said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee.

Nineteen of the 20 metro areas surveyed reported annual declines, with 15 of them posting record lows. Six metro areas lost more than 20%.

Las Vegas had the worst quarterly performance, falling 25.9%, followed by Miami and Phoenix. Only Charlotte, N.C., stayed above water, gaining less than 1% over the previous year.