House Prices Decline Slowing

By Gilbert Mercier, NEWS JUNKIE POST

Data was released today by Standard & Poor’s for its home price index composite.

This is the leading indicator for the US real estate market. It shows that although still negative, the annual decline of the 10-City & the 20-City composites improved.

The 10-City and 20-City index declined 18% and 18.1% respectively in April 2009 compare to April 2008. It is however an improvement from data reported by Standard & Poor’s in January, it was -19.4% & -19% respectively.

“The pace of decline in residential real estate slowed in April. In addition to the 10-City & 20-City composites 13 of the 20 Metro areas also saw improvement in their annual compared to that of March. Furthermore, every Metro areas, except for Charlotte NC, recorded an improvement in return over March. While one month’s data cannot determine if a turnaround has begun; it seems that some stabilization may be appearing in some of the regions. The stock market bottomed in March, and measures of consumer confidence have turned upward. This report shows that these better spirits are also appearing in the housing market.” Commented David Blitzer, the Chairman of the index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.