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US home prices tumble in April at record rate
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-25 00:07 NEW YORK -- US home prices tumbled in April at the fastest rate since a widely followed index was begun in 2000 with all 20 metropolitan areas surveyed posting annual declines for the first time.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities fell by 15.3 percent in April versus a year ago, according to Tuesday's report. Prices nationwide are at levels not seen since August 2004. The narrower 10-city index declined 16.3 percent in April, its biggest decline in its more than two-decade history. Meanwhile, a report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said US home prices fell 4.6 percent in April from the same month last year, when the index peaked. That marked the biggest decline ever in the agency's monthly index which dates back to January 1991. The government index is calculated using mortgage loans of $417,000 or less. |