NEW YORK — A closely watched index released Tuesday showed home prices tumbling by the sharpest annual rate ever in July, and though the monthly rate of decline is slowing, there is no turnaround in sight.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index fell a record 16.3 percent in July from the year-ago month, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index plunged 17.5 percent, the biggest decline in its 21-year history.
Metro Denver home values declined 4.7 percent through the year that ended in July. It was the third- smallest decline, after Charlotte, N.C., and Dallas, among 20 areas surveyed.
Between June and July, metro Denver home values increased 0.8 percent, down from a 1.5 percent monthly gain between May and June, according to the index. It was the fourth month that the Denver area showed month-over-month gains.
No city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw annual price gains in July — for the fourth straight month.
However, the pace of monthly declines is slowing, a possible silver lining. Between May and July, for example, home prices fell at a cumulative rate of 2.2 percent — less than half the cumulative rate experienced between February and April.
Though the Case-Shiller is a widely watched gauge of market conditions, it lags other key indicators. August data on new and existing home prices and sales showed the real-estate recession is still in full swing.
Last week, the National Association of Realtors said the median home-resale price fell 9.5 percent to $203,100 in August, the largest annual price decline on records dating to 1999. The median home price of a new home fell 5.5 percent to $221,900 in August, the Commerce Department said last week.
Denver Post staff writer Aldo Svaldi contributed to this report.
By the numbers
4.7%
Decline in metro Denver home values through the year that ended in July
0.8%
Increase in metro Denver home values between June and July
1.5%
Increase in metro Denver home values between May and June
