The sharpest national home price drop ever meant a strong tumble in Puget Sound home prices, according to a new index released today.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for July showed a 8.2 percent drop in home prices from last year, and a 1 percent stumble from the previous month. The 20-city index fell a record 16.3 percent in July from the previous year, the largest drop since the index began in 2000.
"There are signs of a slow down in the rate of decline across metro areas, but no evidence of a bottom," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Standard & Poor's Index Committee.
No prices in any of the cities saw a year-over-year increase, the fourth month in a row of decline. The hardest hit areas still are in the Southwest and Southeast. Las Vegas saw the biggest year-over-year fall, a drop of 29.9 percent with Phoenix close behind with a 29.3 percent drop.
"While some cities did show some marginal improvement over last month's data, there is still very little evidence of any particular region experiencing an absolute turnaround," Blitzer said.
The median home price in Pierce County for August, the most recent available from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, was $250,975, down about $34,000 from last year.