First American: Home Values May Be Stabilizing

National housing prices recorded their smallest year-over-year decline in May — and the smallest decline since December 2007, according to the First American CoreLogic Home Price Index. The decline between May 2008 and May 2009 is 9.2%, compared with a revised 9.7% for April. Since the start of the year, there has been a 2.5 percentage point improvement in the rate of home price decline. First American CoreLogic said preliminary data from June shows even further improvement. But even with the good news, 41 states still had declines from May one year ago to now and 16 of those states had double-digit declines. Nevada, down 26.4%, remained the top-ranked state for annual price depreciation with Florida, down 25.5% close behind. California, Arizona and Illinois round out the top five states for price declines. By market, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., saw prices decline nearly 30%. The Metro Miami market was down over 29%; neighboring Fort Lauderdale was down 27%, sandwiching Fort Myers and Las Vegas. The four markets with price appreciation were Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. "Although there has been some improvement in the national HPI, collateral risk will continue to be the main driver of the housing market for the remainder of 2009," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic. "Until home prices and the economy stabilize, mortgage performance will continue to worsen and home sales activity will remain flat nationally through 2010."