Home Prices Continued To Decline In 2008, New Index Reports

RIVERSIDE, CA - FEBRUARY 24: A wildflower blooms at an idle home construction site where construction has been halted, on February 24, 2009 near Riverside, California. U.S. single family homes prices continued to plummet for the second year, falling 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the year before. It was the biggest decline in the 21-year history of the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller US national home price index. Big declines hit cities like Phoenix with a 34 percent drop; Las Vegas dipping 33 percent; San Francisco down by 31 percent; Miami 29 percent; and Los Angeles, which includes Orange County, falling 26 percent. The January median sales price for Southern California homes fell 40 percent from the same month a year prior and Los Angeles-area home prices ended 2008 down 37 percent from a late 2006 peak. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)