TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Index Shows Home Sales Prices Continue To Plummet

ADVERTISEMENT

By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 25, 2008

TAMPA - Home sales prices declined at record rates across the country in September. In the Tampa Bay area, prices continued to fall but hovered around the same rate of decline as the previous month.

Bay area sales prices fell 18.5 percent in September compared with a year ago, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released this morning.

Although prices are still dropping, the report shows they may be stabilizing. Consider Tampa's recent drops: 18.1 percent in August; 19.4 percent in July; 20.1 percent in June; and 20.2 percent in May.

But as Tampa-area prices seem to be hanging steady, the rest of the country is suffering more than ever. Of the 20 markets tracked by the index, 13 saw record rates of decline.

"The turmoil in the financial markets is placing further downward pressure on a housing market already weakened by its own fundamentals," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee.

Phoenix saw the largest drop, 31.9 percent; followed by Las Vegas, down 31.3 percent; and San Francisco's drop of 29.5 percent.

Miami, the only other Florida city tracked, saw prices decline 28.4 percent.

Every city tracked saw yearly declines, but Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., fared the best. Those cities saw price drops of 2.7 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

As a whole, the index posted a record 16.6 percent decline in the third quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter of 2007. The index dropped 15.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008 and 14 percent in the first quarter.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT