New data shows housing gloom deepening

Business News

Nov 27, 2007, 19:02 GMT

New York - New data released Tuesday showed US housing prices dropped by an average of 4.5 per cent over the past year. A separate report by a group of US mayors meanwhile predicted a severe blow to the national economy if the price slide and rash of foreclosures was not swiftly halted. The data by the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price showed prices of existing US single-family homes down by 4.5 per cent in the third quarter, matching a record decline from the previous period. The index fell 1.7 per cent since June, marking the largest quarterly decline since the index was begun in, S&P said in a statement. In a separate survey by S&P/Case-Shiller of home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas, values dropped 4.95 per cent in September from a year ago, the biggest decline in more than six years. Prices declined 0.9 percent in September alone, and were down in all 20 metropolitan areas, the survey found. A steady rise in foreclosures tied to the struggling subprime mortgage market has weighed down housing demand and boosted business inventories. Tightened lending standards after the unprecedented number of defaults over the summer have also made it more difficult for Americans to procure the loans needed to purchase homes. The report by the US Conference of Mayors forecast that the housing slump would reduce gross domestic product by 166 billion dollars, cause 524,000 fewer jobs being created next year and a potential loss of 6.6 billion dollars in tax revenues. The report said growth could be cut by more than a third in 65 metro areas and by more than a quarter in 143 metro areas. The largest metro area, New York, will lose more than 10 billion dollars in 2008 economic output as a result of the mortgage crisis, followed by Los Angeles (8.3 billion dollars), Dallas (4.0 billion dollars), Washington (4.0 billion dollars), and Chicago (3.9 billion dollars). © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

View blog reactions

If you liked this story please support M&C and Buzz the site on Yahoo.

Latest Headlines in Business

Talkback

There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)

Latest from M&C Blogs

Is Sarah Palin a saviour or a strange choice? - Global Eye on September 2, 2008 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

Obama: the gloves come off in Denver - Global Eye on August 29, 2008 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Biden: good choice or admission of Obama's weakness? - Global Eye on August 25, 2008 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

Upside-down House - The World in Pictures on August 4, 2008 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Church of our Lady in Dresden, Germany - The World in Pictures on August 4, 2008 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Giant Orange - The World in Pictures on July 15, 2008 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Business

New data shows housing gloom deepening

Business News

Latest Headlines in Business

Talkback

Latest from M&C Blogs

Similar articles

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print