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News: US prices worst for two decades

Tue, 03 Jun 08

US house prices are suffering, but that’s good news for bargain-hunting international investors...

According to the Standard & Poor/Case-Shiller Index (SPCSI), US. home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter of 2008, a worrying indication that the housing slump continues to deepen.

The national home price index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since its inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.

Maureen Maitland, a Vice President at Standard and Poor’s, commented: “Prices nationwide are at levels not seen since the third quarter of 2004. However, the index is still up 60 percent versus 2000.

Conflicting figures?

Standard and Poor’s figures seem to be at odds with research from the US Commerce Department, which recently showed that the US economy performed at a better than expected level in the first few months of 2008, with growth of 0.9%.

Nick Bennenbroek, currency strategist at Wells Fargo commented: "0.9% growth is hardly a stellar performance for the economy but things looked worse back in January when the job figures were turning negative."

Whilst house price falls will be devastating news for US homeowners, international investors will be rubbing their hands together at the prospect of snapping-up US real estate at bargain-bin prices.

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