Home Prices Fall 12.5%-Plus in February

February marked another month of steep price declines for existing homes across the U.S., according to single-family home data released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's. And first-quarter foreclosure data from RealtyTrac only lends to the bleak picture of the national market.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Indices, which examines the housing market in 10-city and 20-city composites, shows prices declined more than 12.5% over last year. Looking at the 10-city composite, prices declined in February by 2.6% over January and by 13.6% over last February. The 20-city composite showed a 2.6% month-over-month decline and a 12.7% year-over-year decline.

The February data mark the sixth consecutive month of declines for each of the metropolitan areas covered. And there's little prospect of near-term improvement in the numbers. Every one of the 20 MSAs examined showed a decline in February from the previous month. And 19 of the 20 MSAs continued their year-over-year declines.

"There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers," says David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & poor's. "Prices of single-family homes continue to drop across the nation. ... The monthly data show that every one of the MSAs has now declined every month since September 2007, marking six consecutive months. On top of that, the declines have remained steep with eight of the 20 MSAs and both composites reporting their single largest monthly decline in February."

Las Vegas and Miami, two markets that recorded some of the largest price growth in 2004 and 2005, have become the weakest markets, showing 12-month negative declines of 22.8% and 21.7%, respectively. The only market that showed a year-over-year improvement was Charlotte, which saw its prices improve 1.5% over last February.

Foreclosures

The number of foreclosure filings in the first quarter soared 23% over the fourth quarter and a whopping 112% over the prior-year period, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.