Housing market? Still going down.

[randomness]

Remember the housing market? Its collapse started this avalanche.
Well, it hasn't stopped falling:

From Standard and Poors, via FT Alphaville:

All three aggregate indices and 13 of the 20 metro areas are reporting new record rates of decline. Looking at the returns of the U.S. National Index, prices are back to where they were in early 2004. As of September 2008, the 10-City Composite is down 23.4% from its peak, the 20-City Composite is down 21.8% and the National Composite is down 21.0%.

"Take appropriate action," as my old boss liked to say.

Edit: Barry Ritholtz adds:

Las Vegas and Phoenix saw drops of more than 30% year over year; 29.5% drop in San Francisco and 28.4% fall in Miami led the pack of mean reverters.

Prices in New York fell 7.3% y/o/y and 5.7% in Boston. The smallest decline was in Dallas, down 2.7%.

The 30 yr FNMA mortgage rate is down now 37 bps today to 5.04% — that is the lowest since mid-September, right after the FNM/FRE conservatorship idea was floated.

Comments

[shostack.livejournal.com]

29.5% drop in San Francisco? Show me?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I can't tell from a cursory look at www.homeprice.standardandpoors.com what the San Francisco "metro area" covers, but I suspect it includes a lot more than the city and county of San Francisco.

http://eastbayhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/11/dqnews-contra-costa-county-525-off-peak.html?ref=patrick.net has a nice chart of median sales price changes by county at http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_udvemSTqQ/SSXVv6WTbHI/AAAAAAAAAh8/8RRO0jQ5Rss/s1600-h/DQ_Median_Chart.PNG. Contra Costa and Solano counties are both down over 50% from their peak, while Sonoma, Napa, and Alameda are down more than 40%.

Median numbers aren't that useful when you're looking for specific houses in particular areas, but that may give you some idea where you might look.

(I personally still wouldn't want to buy a place in Vallejo, for example, but prices there have dropped a whole lot.)

Best of luck!

[shostack.livejournal.com]

That actually makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't want a place in Vallejo either. Too bad I can afford one. Or three. :/