U.S. home prices fell 3.0% in February, according to the Denver-based Integrated Asset Services monthly IAS360 House Price Index.
Prices have now fallen 14.4% on a year-over-year basis and 17.9% since the height of the real estate bubble in 2006, the report said. Since September 2008, the IAS360 has dropped 10.9%.
Dave McCarthy, president/CEO of IAS, said that he sees no indication of a positive turn in the housing market; in fact, the rate of price decline in increasing in some areas.
Dramatic home price slides aren't just for California and Florida anymore. Among the four U.S. Census region levels, the Northeast was hit the hardest, reporting a 4.6% drop in February and a 12.8% decline since September. Similarly, the South dropped 3% and 12.8% for the same respective periods. The West was down 2.5% and 10.2%. The Midwest was spared the double digits, with a 2.3% decline for February and an 8.9% loss since September 2008.
Six out of the 10 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. have experienced double-digit declines since September 2008, the worst being Boston, San Francisco, and Miami, down 20.3%, 19.3%, and 18.1% respectively. The Boston area fell 10.3% in February alone.
Price declines have advanced well beyond outlying suburbs. Homes in eight of the top 10 wealthiest counties in the country have lost value since September 2008, with Montgomery County, Md., Stafford County, Va., Loudoun County, Va., and Morris County, N.J., hit the hardest, all with double-digit price declines.
"No markets seem to be completely immune from the housing crisis," McCarthy said.
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