Prices of single-family homes across the nation depreciated in January compared with January 2006, the worst results in more than 13 years, according to a housing index released yesterday by Standard Poor’s.

The S P/ Case-Shiller composite index showed a drop of 0.7 percent from a year ago in the price of a single-family home based on existing homes tracked in 10 metropolitan markets.

In January 1994, the index dropped 0.9 percent compared with January 1993, S P said.

For its 20- city composite index, prices fell 0.2 percent.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new homes fell to the slowest pace in nearly seven years, after a larger decline in January.

On a year-over-year basis, 11 of the 20 cities in the S P index show negative annual returns in the prices of existing homes.

On Monday, the Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes fell 3.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 848,000, the slowest sales pace in nearly seven years. (Read More)

Source: Baltimore Sun

Tags: Real Estate News