Real Estate Prices Fall Again in September

CoreLogic index: 29% decline from April 2006 peak

By Inman News, Wednesday, November 17, 2010.

National home prices were down 2.79 percent year-over-year in September, the second consecutive month a home-price index maintained by data aggregator CoreLogic registered a decline compared to the same month last year.

After rising slightly for the first seven months of the year, CoreLogic’s Home Price Index first dipped into negative territory in August, registering a 1.08 percent year-over-year decline.

The index showed national home prices down 29.13 percent in September from their April 2006 peak.

If sales of distressed properties are excluded from the index, year-over-year prices declined 0.73 percent in September, leaving them down 19.96 percent from their April 2006 peak.

“This continued and widespread decline will put further pressure on negative equity and stall the housing recovery,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a press release.

The index showed price appreciation in only seven states in September: New York (2.67 percent), North Dakota (1.73 percent), California (0.86 percent), Nebraska (0.78 percent), Virginia (0.77percent), Alaska (0.44 percent) and Maine (0.38 percent).