Home prices decline in January

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Home prices in January continued to slide in America’s major metropolitan areas, according to data released Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index showed that prices in 20 major U.S. cities dropped an average of 3.1% in January from the same month a year earlier and 1% from December.

“Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s.

Out of the 20 cities measured by the index, 11 posted new lows since home prices peaked. Those cities were Atlanta; Chicago; Detroit; Las Vegas; Miami; New York; Phoenix; Seattle; Charlotte, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; and Tampa, Fla. The same cities had all hit new lows the month prior.

San Diego and Washington were the only two markets to post positive year-over-year numbers, with San Diego up 0.1% and Washington 3.6%.

On a month-over-month basis, every city but Washington declined when left unadjusted for seasonal variations. Los Angeles fell 0.6%, San Diego 1.2% and San Francisco 1.9%.

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-- Alejandro Lazo