Home Prices Suffer Record Quarterly Drop

Housing market's woes worsen across the country

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 27, 2007 1:41 PM CST

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Home Prices Suffer Record Quarterly Drop — Homes in Bayonne, N.J. are shown on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007. U.S. home prices fell 4.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the sharpest drop since Standard & Poor began its nationwide housing index in 1987, the research group said Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) (Associated Press)

The housing slump deepened in September as home prices plummeted, posting a record 4.5% decline from third quarter 2006 to third quarter 2007, Marketwatch reports. The 1.7% decline from the second to the third quarter was also a record in the 21 years the bellwether index has been in use. "There is no real positive news in today's data," said Robert Shiller, who co-developed the index.

Prices fell in all 20 cities studied included in the index, a new and worrisome development in the current cycle. "We judge the recent decline in home prices to be the beginning of an extended decline," said a Lehman Brothers economist. Other analysts speculated that the housing price drop, especially if it continues, could drag down consumer confidence and spending. (More home prices stories.)

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