House prices in US continue to fall

According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller survey of US national home prices, property prices in the US were down a record 15.4% in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the same quarter in 2007.

According to the report, the decline in house prices were nationwide indicating that the housing market downturn is continuing in America.

However, even though house prices are still tumbling, the rate of decline in the second quarter was only about a third of the fall reported in the previous quarter, according to the index.

According to housing analyst, Gary Shilling, one of the main problems is the oversupply of unsold new homes built during the housing boom years.

Meanwhile, separate Government data showed that sales of new homes hit 515,000 in July, up from June, but this still represented a 16-year low.

David Sloan, an economist at 4Cast, the market analysis group, said prices are still falling but at a lesser rate.

He concluded by saying that this is reasonably encouraging and indicates that some parts of the problem are more localised now.

In related news, the New York-based Conference Board’s index, a key measure of consumer confidence, increased from 51.9 to 56.9 in July, exceeding analysts’ expectations of 53.

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