National home prices hit a new low in March, giving credence to long-simmering worries about a double dip in the housing market.
The widely-watched S&P/Case-Shiller home price index showed that both nationally and in the Chicago area, home prices fell below their previous lows, causing the report's authors to declare an official double dip in home prices. In the U.S., home prices plummeted to their mid-2002 levels. In the Chicago area, prices in March were at levels not seen since April 2001.
The Chicago area has been one of the country's weak spots for months, and local home prices have been falling since November 2010. In March, according to the index, home prices slipped 2.4 percent from February, and were down 7.6 percent on an annualized basis.
Condominium values plummeted even further in the Chicago area. In March, they fell to levels not seen since March 2000. Condo prices in March fell 4.5 percent since February and were down 13.5 percent on an annualized basis.
Maureen Maitland, a S&P vice president, attributed the continued bad news to the varying states of recovery in regional economies, a general lack of confidence in the housing market and an oversupply of homes, including foreclosure inventory that is dragging down prices.
"If you can hang onto a house right now and you don't have to sell, you don't," Maitland said. "All indications are that prices are going to continue to fall."
Last week, RealtyTrac said sales of foreclosed properties in Illinois made up 29 percent of home sales during the first quarter, and that the average price of a foreclosed home was $132,983, a discount of almost 41 percent from prices of non-foreclosed homes.
Other cities that also posted new housing price index lows in March were Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland and Tampa.
Washington, D.C., was the only city to report a small uptick in March prices compared with February and a year ago.
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