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U.S. home prices reach lowest level since 2006
National home prices fell in the last three months of last year to their lowest level since the onset of the housing crisis in 2006, according to a new fourth-quarter report.
While the report doesn’t include co-ops or condos, which account for 98 percent of Manhattan’s non-rental properties, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shi
“In terms of prices, the housing market ended 2011 on a very disappointing note,” David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, said in a statement. “While we thought we saw some signs of stabilization in the middle of 2011, it appears that neither the economy nor consumer confidence was strong enough to move the market in a positive direction as the year ended.”
Year-over-year, the national composite fell by 4 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2011 alone, it fell by 3.8 percent compared to the third quarter.
In addition, 17 cities saw monthly declines for three consecutive months, and 10 cities saw home prices fall by more than 1 percent in the month of December 2011 alone. Atlanta posted the lowest prices at 12.8 percent. Detroit posted the only increase at .5 percent.
“The pick-up in the economy has simply not been strong enough to keep home prices stabilized,” Blitzer said. “If anything it looks like we might have reentered a period of decline as we begin 2012.” — Zachary Kussin