Home Prices Continue To Fall

Washington, DC, June 23, 2009--U.S. home prices fell 6.8 percent in April from a year earlier as rising unemployment and record foreclosures kept buyers out of the market, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Measured monthly, the average price fell 0.1 percent from March, the agency said. The number was projected to drop 0.4 percent in April, according to a forecast of 15 economists.

The housing slump has reduced the median price of an existing home 26 percent from the July 2006 peak, pushing affordability to near record levels. Prospective buyers are now being constrained by rising mortgage rates, the highest unemployment since 1983 and concern the housing rebound will be anemic.

Deutsche Bank AG analysts last week said that U.S. home prices may fall another 14 percent before reaching a bottom as an increase in the jobless rate offsets lower prices. The worse declined may hit the New York and Orange County, California, metropolitan areas, analysts led by Karen Weaver said.