Case-Shiller HPI: House Prices Fell 4.4%

House prices declined at a 4.4% annual rate in August, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller housing price index, which covers 20 metropolitan areas.The 20-city HPI declined at a 3.9% annual rate in July. "There is really no positive news in today's report, as most of the metro areas are showing declining or vanishing returns on both an annual and monthly basis," said Robert Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC. The August report shows that Tampa now leads Detroit and the other 18 cities in terms of house price declines. Tampa has experienced a 10.1% annual decline, followed by Detroit with a 9.3% decline and San Diego with an 8.3% decline.