Home prices continue to fall
The latest quarterly report from Realtors shows significant drops in markets across the nation....

November 15 2007: 1:41 PM EST
-- Housing price drops, driven by soaring foreclosure rates, accelerated during the three months ended September 30, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The median single-family house price in the United States fell to $220,800, which was down 2 percent from a year ago. Condo prices showed some resiliency: At $226,900, they rose 2 percent compared with 12 months ago. "The biggest decline in sales appears to be concentrated in areas that had significant levels of speculative investment, including Nevada, Florida and Arizona," Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, said in a statement. Most declines occurred either in once hot markets or Rust-Belt areas clobbered by economic setbacks and job losses, like Detroit and Cleveland. The Palm Bay/Melbourne, Fla. area recorded the steepest loss. Prices there plunged 12.4 percent to $182,400. Close behind was Sacramento, Calif. with a decline of 10.5 percent to $335,700. Some metro areas bucked the national trend. In the heartland, Bismarck, N.D. prices were strongly positive with a growth rate of 15.1 percent to $161,600 compared with a year ago, . Salt Lake City also recorded a big gain, with prices up 14.1 percent to $246,700. Regionally, the best performing area was the Northeast, where the median home price rose 3.2 percent to $286,300. In the Midwest, the median price, at $170,800, was up 0.5 percent. Prices in the South fell 3.6 percent to $180,800, and in the West, they dropped 3.8 percent to $338,100. Many of the worst hit cities have also recently recorded high rates of foreclosure. In Detroit, where one of every 33 households is in some stage of default, prices declined 7.3 percent to $142,900. Riverside/San Bernardino, Calif. prices dropped 7.6 percent to $377,000. And Cleveland prices fell 4.2 percent to $132,700. Condo prices fell 17.3 percent in Cape Cora, Fla. to $224,900, the steepest decline in the nation. In Bismarck, they rose 22.3 percent to $133,300, for the highest gain. The highest priced metro area market is San Jose, Calif. where prices grew 9.4 percent over the past 12 months to $852,500. San Francisco trailed slightly, at $825,400 .......

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