12 Mar 09 House price depreciation accelerated sharply and became more widespread during the fourth quarter of 2008. House price declines accelerated during the fourth quarter of 2008, falling at a 13.0% annualized pace, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The rate of decline in the fourth quarter was the greatest in this housing cycle, and exceeded the fastest rates of appreciation in the bubble years of 2004 and 2005. From its peak in the spring of 2007, the nationwide average price is now down 9.9%. The number of declining metro markets was up sharply, to 302 in the fourth quarter, easily exceeding the previous high of 266 in the first quarter of 2008... Continue reading ...

Housing Prices Continue to Decline Nationwide Third-quarter U.S. Housing Market now undervalued by 5.7% Waltham, MA 3 December 2008 - IHS Global Insight, the world's leading company for economic and financial analysis and forecasting, today released the third-quarter 2008 update of the U.S. housing valuation analysis, House Prices in America, showing that single-family U.S. home prices fell at a faster pace across a wide area of the country-after moderating earlier in the year-and are now 6.5% below their 2007 peak. House prices fell at a 6.9% annualized pace, affecting 241 of the 330 analyzed metropolitan areas, up from 150 metro areas in the second-quarter 2008. For the United States as a whole, the housing market is now slightly undervalued. When weighted by market value, the nation is 3.8% undervalued; when weighted by housing units, it is 5.7% undervalued. Continue reading ...