Orlando Real Estate News

House prices continue to plummet in March, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home-price indexes, as the downdraft shows no near-term signs of abating.

The six month economy though gives U.S. consumers improved confidence in May

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted the first quarter at a 19.1% drop from a year earlier, the biggest quarterly decline for the reading's 21-year history. S&P Case-Shiller releases 10-city and 20-city indexes every month, but also releases a broader national index every quarter.

The Sun Belt continues to be hit the hardest with the monthly numbers showing 15 of 20 major metropolitan areas posted price declines of more than 10% from a year earlier. Nationally, home prices are at levels similar to the fourth quarter of 2002.

David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee, noted that March was only the second time since October 2007 that both the 10- and 20-city index didn't report record annual price declines.

Minneapolis, Detroit and New York are three of the 20 to report price decreases. Minneapolis had a 6.1% drop just in March, the biggest-ever monthly decline measured by the index.

The indexes showed prices in 10 major metropolitan areas fell 18.6% in March from a year earlier and 2.1% from February. In 20 major metropolitan areas, home prices dropped 18.7% from the prior year and 2.2% from February.

Two regions reported a slight price increase in March from a month earlier: Charlotte and Denver. A third, Dallas, was flat. Also, nine of the 20 areas reported better month-to-month results in March than February.

For the 12th straight month, no region was able to avoid a year-over-year decline. Phoenix and Las Vegas were again the worst performers, with drops of 36% and 31%, respectively. Phoenix is down 53% from its peak in June 2006. Dallas has been the least hurt, down 11% from its June 2007 peak.

The Conference Board, a private research group, said its index of consumer confidence for May jumped to 54.9, compared with 40.8 in April, which was originally reported as 39.2. The current month's reading was well above economists' expectations of 43.0, according to a survey conducted by Dow Jones Newswires.

The index is now at its highest since September 2008, the board said.

The present situation index, a gauge of consumers' assessment of current economic conditions, edged up to 28.9 from 25.5 in April.

Consumer expectations for economic activity over the next six months jumped to 72.3 from 51.0 in the prior month.

"While confidence is still weak by historical standards, as far as consumers are concerned, the worst is now behind us," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

The employment outlook also improved a bit. The percentage of people expecting more jobs in the months ahead increased to 20.0% in May from 14.2% in April, while those anticipating fewer jobs decreased to 25.2% from 32.5%.

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