US property prices show 14.4% annual decline

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by Gill Montia

Property speculators waiting on the US market for the right moment to invest will need to remain patient.

According to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, prices continued to fall in March, taking the annual decline to 14.4%.

Between March and February the average value of a home fell 2.2%, following a 2.4% dip during the previous month.

The index is widely regarded as one of the country’s most accurate measurements of property market movements and the research covered Los Angeles, Washington, Miami, Boston and New York among other US cities.

Nineteen of the twenty metropolitan areas surveyed showed a fall, with only Charlotte, in North Carolina, recording an annual gain, of 0.8%.

Average house prices in the US have been falling since January 2007 in a decline is the sharpest since the survey began almost ten years ago.

The collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market has been forcing many homeowners to sell at below market prices, while repossession levels have escalated.