Home Prices Continue to Decline

Home prices fell in 19 of the 20 major cities tracked by Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index for the second straight month. This certainly does bode well for the 2012 outlook for prices. It is good news for buyers though.
Home prices are declining even though there had been some progress in previous months.

Residential construction will probably add to the 2011 economic growth but this is most likely due to apartment complex construction.

The Case-Shiller index covers half of all U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The monthly data are not seasonally adjusted.
Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis showed the largest declines. Prices in Atlanta dropped to their lowest point since the housing crisis began.

David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee is quoted as saying "Atlanta and the Midwest are regions that really stand out in terms of recent relative weakness, these markets were some of the strongest during the spring/summer buying season."

Sales of previously owned homes are slightly ahead of 2008's awful figures — the worst in 13 years. And sales of new homes this year will likely be the worst since the government began keeping records a half century ago.
Prices are also certain to fall further once banks resume millions of foreclosures. They have been delayed because of a yearlong government investigation into mortgage lending practices.

In the end, all of this is good news to a buyer that can qualify for a loan or that is able to make a cash purchase right now.