Standard & Poor's (S&P) on Tuesday released its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for the first quarter, showing that the U.S. home prices declined 4.2 percent in the period to a new low since mid-2002.


Photo taken on May 31, 2011 shows a real estate billboard in Chicago, the United States. According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index, home prices in 20 cities of the United Sates fell 3.6 percent in March compared with a year earlier, while its National Home Price Index fell 4.2 percent in the first quarter to the lowest level since recession. The home price in Chicago even hit new low in the recent 10 years. Washington D.C. was the only metropolitan area where home prices rose on both a monthly and annual basis. (Xinhua/Jiang Xintong)
David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, said that the new low has confirmation of a double-dip in home prices across much of the nation, adding that "home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight."


In March along, the national home prices slipped 2.4 percent from February, or 7.6 percent on an annualized basis, said S&P in a publication on Tuesday.


Besides, 18 cities, including Chicago and Detroit, posted a negative return from February while Washington D.C. and Seattle were the only two cities to report a small increase from the previous month. Eleven cities have posted at least eight consecutive months of negative month-over-month returns.


The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are the leading measures for the U.S. residential housing market, tracking changes in the value of residential real estate both nationally and in 20 metropolitan regions.


VietNamNet/Xinhuanet