A national home-price index fell 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter and ended 2006 at 0.4 percent annual growth.

 

This Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. Home Price Index declined steeply throughout 2006, falling to near-zero growth after peaking at about 16 percent year-over-year growth in 2005.

S&P/Case-Shiller also publishes 10-City Composite and 20-City Composite indices that measure home prices in select metro markets.

The indices are designed to track the price changes of typical single-family homes and are based on data for single-family home resales for homes that have two or more recorded sale transactions at fair market value. Condominiums, co-op and new-home sales are excluded from the indices, and no appraisal data are used.

The 10-City Composite Index, which includes Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., fell to a zero growth rate in December compared to the same month in 2005, hitting its lowest level since March 1996. The 10-city index dropped 0.8 percent from November to December.

In December, S&P announced the launch of the 20-City Composite, which added Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle and Tampa to the original 10 cities. The 20-City Composite Index dropped 0.7 percent from November to December while experiencing a 0.5 percent annual return in 2006.

Nine of the 20 cities in the 20-city index experienced a negative return in 2006. There was a 5.9 percent negative return in Detroit, 5.1 percent in Boston, 4.2 percent in San Diego, 2.9 percent in Washington, D.C., 2.4 percent in Cleveland, 1.4 percent in San Francisco, 0.8 percent in Minneapolis, 0.3 percent in Denver and 0.1 percent in New York in 2006.

The indices have a base value of 100 in January 2000, so that an index value of 150 translates to a 50 percent appreciation rate for a typical home in a market area.

In the 20-cities index, Detroit had the lowest index score at 119.51 in December, followed by Cleveland at 119.77, Dallas at 123.67, Charlotte at 128.88 and Atlanta at 134. Miami had the highest index score at 280.87 in December, followed by Los Angeles at 270.03, Washington, D.C., at 240.28, San Diego at 238.07 and Las Vegas at 231.57.

The quarterly U.S. Home Price Index is a composite of single-family home-price indices for all nine U.S. Census divisions. The indices are published through agreements between Standard & Poor’s, Fiserv and macroMarkets LLC.

Show Comments Hide Comments
Sign up for Inman’s Morning Headlines
What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments
By submitting your email address, you agree to receive marketing emails from Inman.
Success!
Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines.
Back to top
Only 3 days left to register for Inman Connect Las Vegas before prices go up! Don't miss the premier event for real estate pros.Register Now ×
Limited Time Offer: Get 1 year of Inman Select for $199SUBSCRIBE×
Log in
If you created your account with Google or Facebook
Don't have an account?
Forgot your password?
No Problem

Simply enter the email address you used to create your account and click "Reset Password". You will receive additional instructions via email.

Forgot your username? If so please contact customer support at (510) 658-9252

Password Reset Confirmation

Password Reset Instructions have been sent to

Subscribe to The Weekender
Get the week's leading headlines delivered straight to your inbox.
Top headlines from around the real estate industry. Breaking news as it happens.
15 stories covering tech, special reports, video and opinion.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
It looks like you’re already a Select Member!
To subscribe to exclusive newsletters, visit your email preferences in the account settings.
Up-to-the-minute news and interviews in your inbox, ticket discounts for Inman events and more
1-Step CheckoutPay with a credit card
By continuing, you agree to Inman’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You will be charged . Your subscription will automatically renew for on . For more details on our payment terms and how to cancel, click here.

Interested in a group subscription?
Finish setting up your subscription
×