Home Prices Are “Falling Dangerously”

And the "winner" is...Cleveland! Minneapolis places and Portland finishes in the money!

Inquiring minds are noticing a list is growing…the number of national publications and organizations that were reporting the real estate market recovering who are now seeing their declaration premature. Add Forbes to the list:

Not long ago it looked like the housing market was on the mend in most major U.S. metropolitan areas. But now prices are falling fast again in many. Foreclosures and vacant homes lingering on the market are depressing prices, and the home buyer tax credit that expired in July is sorely missed.

Hmmm…once again, class, journalism majors didn’t know how to read economic data. Who would have guessed differently?

The new data is rather stark:

In September home prices fell in 18 of the 20 metro areas tracked by Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller composite home price index. That was worse than August, when 15 of the top 20 cities were down month-over-month.

“There is a large supply of houses on the market,” says David Blitzer, chair of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s. “And further, hidden supply due to delinquent mortgages, pending foreclosures or vacant homes.”

5 cities where prices are falling dangerously:

No. 1: Cleveland
No. 2: Minneapolis
No. 3: Portland
No. 4: Dallas
No. 5: Phoenix

California is about to make the list, big time, in the near future. Next spring should be especially ugly for Southern California as the “spring selling season” doesn’t appear and sellers panic.