Home Prices Continue To Fall Nationwide

New York, NY, June 24, 2008--House prices extended their fall in April, as every top metropolitan area is posting annual losses and many are showing double-digit declines, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price index report.

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metro areas fell 1.4 percent in April from March and fell by a record 15.3 percent over the year.

Economists expected prices for the 20-city index to fall 2.0 percent in the month and 15.9 percent from April 2007, according to the median forecast in a Reuters survey.

The report said its composite index of 10 metro areas slid 1.6 percent in April for a record 16.3 percent annual drop.

Home prices in a dozen of the metro areas have fallen for eight straight months.

"If there is anywhere to look for possible improvement, it would be that the pace of monthly declines has slowed down for most of the markets," David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P, said in a press release.