Plunging Home Prices Down 19.4% in Year

Los Angeles/Orange County home prices fell 19.4 percent in the year that ended in February, the largest year-over-year decline in 21 years and the fourth consecutive month of record declines according to S&P/Case-Shiller indexes.

February marked the 13th consecutive month the S&P/ Case-Shiller indexes found a year-over-year drop in local home values. February's price was down 21.6 percent from the peak price reached in September 2006. During the housing slump of the 1990s, prices declined 27 percent from the peak to the bottom.

S&P/Case Shiller's nationwide composite index for February for 20 major metropolitan areas saw prices down 12.7 percent. The U.S. index now sits 14.8 percent below its July 2006 peak.

"There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers," says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Prices of single-family homes continue to drop across the nation. All 20 metro areas were in the red for the February-over-January reading. In addition, 19 of the 20 MSAs are still reporting negative annual returns."

S&P/Case-Shiller uses "paired sales" to measure changes in home values, tracking gains or losses on individual homes sold in a period.

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