The Nov S&P/CS 20 city home price index fell to the lowest since March, falling 1.6% y/o/y, in line with expectations. Seasonally adjusted, the m/o/m fall was .54%, a touch better than the forecasted drop of .80%. Prices have fallen for 5 straight months m/o/m. Washington DC for a 2nd straight month saw the best y/o/y gain, of 3.5% as that’s unfortunately where the most jobs are. Also seeing gains were the major cities in California (San Diego, LA, SF). The biggest y/o/y declines were seen in Atlanta, Chicago, and Detroit with drops of more than 7%. Prices in Nevada, one of the poster boys for the housing mess over the past 4 yrs, fell 3.5% y/o/y. Bottom line, the headline index is just 3.3% above the Apr ’09 low and 3.4% below the July ’10 tax credit high, thus pointing to the growing double dip possibility in pricing. Nov prices are down 30% from the July ’06 record high.
