US house prices continued to fall in June, suggesting the country’s real estate market has not yet flattened out ahead of an overall recovery. The Altos 10-City Composite Price Index showed a decline in prices of 0.5 per cent in June and a fall of 0.8 per cent over the past three months.
Las Vegas showed the fastest fall rate, declining 3.6 per cent during June, and has now shown the sharpest slide three months in a row. Overall prices of properties listed for-sale increased in 15 of 26 major regional markets.
Analysts said the figures suggested price declines were slowing, but added a widespread slide could happen again in future. Stephen Bedikian, partner and research director for Real IQ, said:
“While the Composite Index continues to show price declines, the rate of decline has slowed recently and more than half of the markets we track are showing sequential asking price increases over the past three months.”
Altos research co-founder Michael Simonsen said:
“Inventory continues to increase which is typical during the seasonally strong spring and summer seasons.”The true test will come in the fall when the market experiences seasonal weakness. If inventory, especially foreclosure listings, piles up too quickly, prices may start declining broadly again.”
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