Broderick Perkins / RealtyTimes

With one at a record low and another at a 10-year low, two lagging home price indicators this week clearly reveal worsening conditions on the home price front.

On Tuesday, the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 major metropolitan areas for the second quarter came in down 3.2 percent, compared to a year ago.

The new index is a record low of 183.89 — the lowest point ever on the index since its inception back in January 1987.

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MSNBC

Proposals aimed at helping those with risky mortgages keep their homes

WASHINGTON – President Bush, announcing a package of measures to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages amid the subprime loan crisis, said on Friday the market turmoil stemming from the problem will take time to play out.

But he said the subprime market woes represent only a small part of the economy and would not undermine what he said were sound fundamentals.
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Marilyn Lewis / MSN Money

It’s housing whiplash: The boom is biting back in the places where it ran highest and fastest just a couple of years ago, a government report for the second quarter shows.

Nationally, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) said prices were essentially flat, growing just 0.1% from April through June, and nearly half of cities profiled showed declines for the quarter. Not since 1994 have home prices grown so little over a quarter.

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Credit Suisse Analyst Predicts Drastic Decline in Mortgage Lending Next Year

AP / Yahoo Finance

A Credit Suisse analyst said Thursday he expects a drastic decline in mortgage lending next year as the housing market struggles and lenders face a hostile climate.
Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch said he expects $1.8 trillion in mortgage loans next year, compared with $3.3 trillion in 2005. He cut his estimate for lending this year to $2.3 trillion from $2.5 trillion.

The mortgage market has fallen into upheaval this year as the Wall Street banks that finance the industry decided the business was too risky and pulled out their money. This left cash-starved mortgage lenders scrambling for money, pushing more than 50 of them into bankruptcy.

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Subprime mess makes it harder to finance homes over $500,000

Associated Press / MSNBC
NEW YORK – The subprime mortgage crisis is spreading to a somewhat unexpected place: homes costing more than $500,000.

As lending has rapidly gotten more restrictive for borrowers taking out large loans, sales of expensive homes have fallen sharply around the country during what should be one of the busiest seasons for buyers and sellers, mortgage bankers and real estate agents say.
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eFinanceDirectory

The San Francisco Bay Area housing market continued its downward slide in the month of July. Home sales fell in every county within the nine-county region with the exception of San Francisco. Home price declines were also reported in Solano, Sonoma, and Contra Costa Counties.

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AFX News Limited / Forbes.com

Fitch Ratings said the contraction in the US housing market is likely to be more severe than anticipated during the rest of 2007, mainly due to tighter mortgage standards and disrupted mortgage markets.

The rating agency added it sees 2008 to be another challenging year for the housing sector, as it expects operational and financial pressures not only to persist but to intensify for public homebuilders.
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California Association of Realtors
Home sales decreased 22.7 percent in July in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home increased 3.2 percent, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported today.

“The decline in sales we experienced in July continues to be driven by both tighter underwriting standards since the start of the year and the adverse psychological impact of news and information regarding increases in foreclosures and the subprime situation,” said C.A.R. President Colleen Badagliacco. “Although the median price posted an increase statewide, there is a disparity between the lower-priced or entry-level markets where prices generally are soft at best and sales have declined sharply, and some higher priced markets that continue to experience price appreciation along with somewhat smaller decreases in sales.”

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Blanche Evans / RealtyTimes

Home sales have dropped nine percent since year-ago levels in July 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors. The wonder of it is that home sales haven’t plummeted even further thanks to the steady and inaccurate drum beat of the financial press that mortgage money isn’t available. For that reason alone, sales figures for August should be disastrous.

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Values down in 15 of 20 major cities, Case-Shiller finds

Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. home prices fell at a faster rate in the second quarter, down 3.2% compared with the same period in 2006, Standard & Poor’s reported Tuesday.

It marked the largest year-over-year decline ever recorded in the 20-year history of the Case-Shiller home price index.

A year ago, home prices were rising at a 7.5% pace nationally.
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