Home-price index falls at record rate

Editor's note: Robert J. Shiller (see Inman News profile), a co-creator of the price-trend research that laid the foundation for the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price indices, will discuss how to mend the housing market during a keynote address at the Inman News Real Estate Connect conference in New York City on Jan. 7. The conference runs from Jan. 7-9 and will also feature talks by Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, Craigslist.org's Craig Newmark, and Realogy Corp. CEO Alex Perriello, among other industry notables. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index dropped a record 16.6 percent in the third quarter compared to the same quarter last year. And a separate monthly price index for 20 U.S. metro areas also fell a record 17.4 percent year-over-year in September. The monthly index is based on repeat sales of resale single-family homes over time, and the quarterly national index is a composite of single-f...