Look at these property prices falls in Phoenix (per Schiller sub-index):
Jan.07 : 220.20
Feb.07 : 218.07
Mar.07 : 216.86
Apr.07 : 215.04
May.07 : 213.94
Jun.07 : 212.52
July.07 : 210.78
Aug.07 : 208.86
Sep.07 : 205.28
Oct.07 : 200.72
Nov07 : 194.45
Dec07 : 187.67
Jan.08 : 180.06 : - 40.14, - 18.2% year-on-year
Feb.08 : 172.72 : - 45.35, - 20.8%
Mar.08 : 166.97 : - 49.89, - xx.x%
Apr.08 : 161.33 : - 53.71, - xx-x%
The slide is picking up speed !
Here's what today's press release of the latest Schiller index said:
"Las Vegas and Miami continue to share the dubious distinction of being the weakest past 12 months returning -26.8% and -26.7%, respectively. These two markets witnessed some of the fastest growth in the 2004/2005 periods, with annual growth rates peaking above +53% and +32% respectively.
For the month of April, markets that experienced great gains in the recent real estate boom were the biggest decliners. Miami and Phoenix were the worst performers. Each had a negative return of 3% (month-on-month.)"
This compares with a Top 20 city index fall of -1.4% month-on-month.
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A HARVARD Study says that the rebound will take longer this time:
+ Prices noramlly dont rebound until prices reach affordable levels and rates are lowered
+ Cycle will take longer, as mortgae rates remain high, and prices are not cheap enough
+ The number of homes in foreclosure more than doubled to 1.3 million
+ The number of households paying more than half their income on housing surged 35%
to 8.8 million in 2006, up from 6.5 million 5 years earlier
+ Homeownership fell from 69% in 2004 to 67.8 % in late 2007