U.S. home prices dropped sharply in February, but for the first time in 16 months the decline was not a record, according to data released Tuesday.
The Standard & Poor’s/ Case-Shiller home-price index for 20 major cities dropped 18.6 percent from February 2008. The 10-city index dropped 18.8 percent.
Denver continued to fare better than other cities, with an annual decline of 5.7 percent. Dallas was the only market doing better, down 4.5 percent.
“We’re still seeing a softening in the market price, but it’s softening less severely than it had been,” said Rachel Hultin, a broker with Urban Niche Real ty. “You always have to look at what month it is in the year. With one exception, March has always been better than February. We feel like this is the low point before we start the busy selling season.”
The effects on first-time homebuying caused by the federal stimulus package are likely to make March better than February, Hultin said.
First-time buyers who close on a home by Dec. 1 can get a tax credit of up to $8,000.
“I would be surprised if we don’t see a positive trend, because it will be the first time we have a month that incorporates the effects of the stimulus bill,” she said. “. . . I think we’re going to have a fun statistical spring.”
Looking at the data from the market’s peak through February, Dallas suffered the least, down 11.1 percent from its peak in June 2007; Phoenix, however, is down 50.8 percent from its peak in June 2006.
Denver home prices are down 14.3 percent from their peak in August 2006.
The double-digits in cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas don’t accurately reflect a home’s value, economist Tucker Hart Adams said.
“The real value of the structure is still there,” she said. “We’ve put too much reliance on what the market attaches to the value of the house.”
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error, it contained an incorrect date by which first-time homebuyers would have to close on a home for a tax credit of up to $8,000. The deadline is Dec. 1.
