Prices For New and Existing Homes Fall Again

According to the S&P Case-Shiller home price index, released Tuesday, prices for existing homes in 20 major U.S. cities fell 4.5% in May from a year earlier.  Only Washington D.C. saw a year over year increase.  Compared with April, prices in May were almost unchanged on a seasonally adjusted basis.  Separately, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday that new home sales fell 1% in June from a month earlier, which puts the current  sales pace below last year’s total of 323,000 sales which was the lowest annual total on record.

Wall Street Journal  July 27, 2011