Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Miami home prices down 6.2%

Home pricing in Miami dropped 6.2 percent, year-over-year, in February, the sixth-largest drop among major U.S. urban centers, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller report.


Phoenix had the most precipitous drop, recording a decline of 8.4 percent, followed by Minneapolis (8.3 percent), Chicago (7.6 percent), Seattle (7.5 percent) and Portland, Ore. (7 percent).

From January to February, Miami had a 2 percent drop, coming in fourth after Minneapolis, with a 3.1 percent decline, San Francisco (2.6 percent) and Chicago (2.2 percent), and a notch above Seattle (1.9 percent).

“There is very little, if any, good news about housing,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, in a statement. “Prices continue to weaken, trends in sales and construction are disappointing.”

Ten of the 11 cities that recorded index lows in January fell further in February. The exception was Detroit, but that silver lining is tarnished because recent pricing is 30 percent lower than it was in 2000, according to Blitzer.

“The 20-City Composite is within a hair’s breadth of a double dip,” he noted.

The report also tracks sales of previously owned single-family homes in 20 metropolitan areas as a gauge of the health of the housing market.

The report shows prices are lower than a year ago, but still slightly higher than their April 2009 bottom.

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