The plunge in U.S. home values continues. Home prices in the United States in 20 cities declined at the fastest pace ever, as foreclosures increased and banks sought to unload homes by selling at cut-rate prices. Home prices in a 20-city sample plunged a record 17.4% in September, on a year-over-year basis in, according to the S&P / Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price survey (pdf). The index has fallen every month since January 2007. Home prices fell 16.6% in August, on a year-over-year basis.
Further, prices in a 10-city survey also plummeted a record, 18.6%, on a year-over-year basis.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected home prices in the Case-Shiller survey to decline 16.0-17.2% in September on a year-over-year basis.
The areas with the largest annual percentage declines were: Phoenix, -31-9%, Las Vegas, -31.3%, San Francisco, -29.5%, Miami, 28.4%, Los Angeles, -27.6%, and San Diego, -26.3%.










