S&P/Case-Shiller: Las Vegas hits new low

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

A monthly Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index tracking 20 metro areas rose 3.2 percent year-over-year in July, with half of the markets showing decline.

Las Vegas had the largest year-over-year drop in July, according to the report, and that market has experienced a 57 percent decline since its peak in August 2006, with index drops in 44 of the past 46 months.

Also, Las Vegas was the only metro among the 20 tracked to experience a new low on the index, noted David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee for Standard & Poor’s.

The Charlotte metro dropped 3.5 percent on the index year-over-year in July, and the Tampa, Fla., market sank 3.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco market experienced the largest gain, up 11.2 percent, followed by the San Diego market (9.3 percent), and the Los Angeles market (7.5 percent).

In seasonally adjusted monthly statistics, the New York market had the largest gain, at 1 percent, from June to July, and 16 of 20 markets declined. The Phoenix market experienced a 1.7 percent drop in July compared to June, Standard & Poor’s reported. The seasonally adjusted 20-metro price index dropped 0.1 percent in July compared to June.