(NEW YORK, NY) -- There still isn't any good housing market news in the daily statistics being churned out by dozens of real estate lobbying groups and private researchers, as evidenced by today's release of 11-month data from the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

Although sales of existing single-family homes in several markets appear to be improving, S&P/Case-Shiller found continued broad-based declines in prices across the United States this past November.

Eleven of the 20 metro areas showed record rates of annual decline, and 14 reporting declines in excess of 10% versus November 2007.

From their peak in mid-2006, the 10-City Composite is down 26.6% and the 20-City Composite is down 25.1%.  Charts on this page show the annual returns of the 10-City Composite and the 20-City Composite Home Price Indices.

Following the lead of the 11 metro areas described above, the 10-City Composite matched last month's record decline of 19.1% and the 20-City Composites set a new record, down 18.2%.

David Blitzer

"The freefall in residential real estate continued through November 2008," says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Since August 2006, the 10-City and 20-City Composites have declined every month - a total of 28 consecutive months.

"Every region was down in excess of 1% for the November--October period, with eight of the regions recording record monthly declines. Phoenix and Las Vegas were the worst performers for the month at -3.4% and -3.3%, respectively, and also have the lowest returns over the one-year period, returning -32.9% and -31.6% respectively. Overall, more than half of the metro areas had record annual declines."
 
Blitzer says the charts for the 10-City Composite and 20-City Composite Home Price Indices are "another illustration of the magnitude of the decline in home prices over the past two years.

"As of November 2008, average home prices are at similar levels to what they were in the first quarter of 2004. From their peak in mid-2006, the 10-City Composite is down 26.6% and the 20-City Composite is down 25.1%."

Blitzer says "monthly data "also continues to show a housing market in decline.

"All 20 metro areas, and the two composites, posted their third consecutive monthly decline. In addition, eight of the MSAs posted their largest monthly decline on record - Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Portland and Seattle.

"Although in decline over the past few years, some of these regions have out-performed on a relative basis, when compared to the national average. It is clear, however, that the decline in home prices is affecting all regions regardless of geography or employment opportunities."

Dallas and Denver faired the best in November, in terms of relative year-over-year returns, the researcher says.  While in negative territory, their declines remained in low single digits of -3.3% and -4.3%, respectively.

"It should be noted, Charlotte reported its third consecutive largest monthly decline on record, down 1.9%," Blitzer says. Denver and Cleveland were the best reporting markets for the month returning -1.1% and -1.2%, respectively. On a relatively positive note, eight of the 20 metro areas recorded better annual returns compared to last month.

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