Home Prices Falling

Home prices fell in February, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 metropolitan areas. See http://www.reuters.com/article/economicNews/idUSNYD00006420070424.

Compounding the problem (or is it causing the problem?), the NAR reported that March sales of existing homes was "sluggish". My realtor friends think the NAR has done a wonderful job pointing out the obvious. The numbers from one article: 6.45 million existing homes sold during March 2007, down from 6.69 million sold during February 2007. See http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/24/ap3643974.html

A related article from CNN Money reported that sales of existing homes saw its biggest one-month drop since 1989! One cause (as reported from the NAR) is "a hit from tighter lending standards in the subprime mortgage sector, which most likely made it more difficult for buyers without topflight credit to get financing to buy a home." See http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/24/news/economy/home_sales/index.htm?cnn=yes