WASHINGTON—A closely watched reading of U.S. home prices to be released Tuesday will provide an indication of how far the housing market slipped in February, as investors seek to divine whether the market is near its bottom.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller monthly report on home prices for February is due at 9 a.m. EDT. The Case-Shiller index, which focuses on major U.S. cities, has shown falling prices since fall 2006.
Home prices as measured by the 10-city Case-Shiller index set a record year-over-year decline of 11.4 percent in January, while the 20-city index dropped 10.7 percent compared with a year earlier.
Many economists predict the steep slump in housing will not bottom out until later this year after prices fall further, allowing high levels of unsold properties to be reduced.
More worrying signs emerged Monday from a Census Bureau report, which said the percentage of vacant homes for sale in the U.S. set a new record high in the first quarter of this year.
The Census Bureau report shows that shows that 2.9 percent of U.S. homes -- excluding rental properties -- were vacant and up for sale, compared with 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. It was the highest number on records going back to 1956.
