Prices of single-family homes in September fell more than twice as fast as expected from the prior month, while prices compared to a year earlier rose more slowly than forecast, according a widely watched index of U.S. home prices released on Tuesday.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.8 percent in September from August on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a decline of 0.3 percent.
S&P, which publishes the indexes, also said home prices in the 20 cities index rose 0.6 percent from September 2009, slower than the 1.1 percent expected.
Well, I would hardly say this wasn’t expected. Those economists must not be very smart. Heck, sales volume has been dropping like a rock. For Chicago single family prices dropped 1.5% while condo prices fell 2.4%. You can get a longer term perspective in the top section of this page: http://blog.lucidrealty.com/chicago_real_estate_statistics/