AP Reports:
U.S. home prices posted their sharpest first-quarter decline since the government began tracking the data 17 years ago.
The Washington-based Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said Thursday that home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter compared with last year. The index also fell 1.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, the largest quarterly price drop on record.
This is an annualized rate of decline of 6.92% and an acceleration of the decline from previous quarters.
Sources:
1Q 2008 House Price Index Report
OFHEO.gov
Gov’t home price index posts largest drop in 17-year history
Alan Zibel
AP