Case-Shiller index shows steep pricing decline

The S&P/Case-Shiller index for March 2008 is out, and shows a 14% pricing decline for the 20-city index during the first quarter of 2008 versus 2007. From an L.A. Times story:

U.S. home prices continued to fall at a record pace through March, according to a major indicator released today. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller U.S. national home price index fell 14.1% in the first three months of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier. The decline was the largest in 20 years for the index, which covers all U.S. Census divisions... The index showed an even sharper drop in Los Angeles and Orange County, where March prices fell 21.7% from a year earlier. Las Vegas showed the biggest year-over-year drop in March (down 25.9%), followed by Miami (24.6%) and Phoenix (23%). Charlotte, N.C., was the only city among the 20 to record a March price increase, 0.8%... More bleak housing news came today from the U.S. Commerce Department, which reported that April home sales were down 42% from the same month a year earlier. The traditional March-to-April bounce in home sales was also much smaller than in previous years. April sales were up 3.3% from March this year. In 2007, sales rose 10% from March to April.