Case-Shiller: L.A. home prices down 25.3% over past year

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Breaking: The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller housing index shows home prices in Los Angeles fell by 25.3% in the year ending in the June, though price declines appear to be slowing on a month-to-month basis. After falling 1.9% from April to May in Los Angeles, prices as measured by Case-Shiller fell 1.4% from May to June.

Price declines also slowed in other cities across the country, the index shows. ‘While there is no national turnaround in residential real estate prices, it is possible that we are seeing some regions struggling to come back, which has resulted in some moderation in price declines at the national level,’ said Standard and Poor’s economist David Blitzer. ‘The rate of home price decline may be slowing.’

Nationally, Case-Shiller’s composite index of 20 large cities declined by 15.4% in the quarter ending in June, and 15.9% in month of June, the sharpest annual rate of decline the index has ever measured.

Los Angeles remains one of the nation’s weakest markets, according to both month-to-month data and year-over-year price changes. Here are the five markets, of 20 measured by Case-Shiller, showing the largest price declines:

City % change from June ’07 % Change May-June
Las Vegas -28.6 -1.6
Miami -28.3 -1.7
Phoenix -27.9 -2.6
Los Angeles -25.3 -1.4
San Diego -24.2 -1.5
20 city comp. -15.9 -0.5

Note: The Case-Shiller index does not translate into a dollar figure, which is why there are no actual prices, or median prices, in this post.

--Peter Viles
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