New report indicates double dip in housing prices
National home prices through March plunged below the low point of the recent recession, signaling a double-dip in housing after a mild rebound last year, according to a widely respected home price index.
Boston home prices declined in March, but remain above their recession low, according the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, which tracks prices in 20 of the nation's large metropolitan areas. Prices in the Boston area have declined in each of the past two months, and are down nearly 3 percent from year ago. They remain about 2 percent above the bottom reached here in April 2009.
Home sales and prices received a boost from federal home buyer tax credits, enacted as part of stimulus legislation. Since the tax credits expired last year, national and local housing markets have struggled. Nationally, home prices, which have declined for three consecutive quarters, fell below the previous low point reached in the first quarter of 2009.Nationally, prices in the first quarter were about 3 percent below the 2009 bottom, according to the index.
“The rebound in prices seen in 2009 and 2010 was largely due to the first-time home buyers tax credit," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. "Excluding the results of that policy, there has been no recovery or even stabilization in home prices during or after the recent recession."
