It would appear that home prices just can't catch a break. According to preliminary sales figures collected by Lender Processing Services, house prices fell 0.8% in December following similar declines in November and October.
LPS reported that the national average home price for sale transactions in November was $199,000, down 0.6% from October – during a time of record low mortgage rates.
If December's price decline is confirmed when LPS reports its official numbers next month, it will mean that home values have declined over the past six months.
As of November 30, prices are down 4.8% from a year ago and they have reached a "level not seen since October 2002," LPS said.
The Jacksonville-based provider of mortgage performance data and analytics is getting more comfortable with using preliminary sales data to estimate house prices a month ahead of its peers.
"The LPS HPI -- unlike most widely distributed indices -- reports sales transaction dates as opposed to recordation dates, and on a monthly basis rather than three-month rolling averages. This allows LPS to identify home price changes earlier," a company spokeswoman said.
