Home Price Decline Hits Record in December

Washington, DC, January 25, 2008-- Prices of homes sold in December registered the biggest year-over-year decline ever, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The group said that the median price of homes sold in December fell nearly 6 percent from 2006 to $208,400. The three biggest declines ever recorded have come in the last four months.

NAR also reported the median price for all homes sold in 2007 fell 1.3 percent to $218,900, the first time the reading has fallen since the group started tracking in 1968.

Merrill Lynch has also released a study that forecasts a 15 percent decline in home sale prices for 2008.

NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun called Merrill's figures "way too pessimistic," the group estimates that home prices for the current quarter will see a 5.3 percent year-over-year decline. That will represent the steepest quarterly drop on record.

Existing-home sales also fell in December, slipping 2.2 percent from November to an annual rate of 4.89 million units.