Quarterly House Prices Fall 1st Time in 13 Years

House prices declined by 0.36% in the third quarter, but still managed to post a gain of 1.8% from the level recorded a year ago, according to a housing price index published by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.The quarterly decline is the first in 13 years, and the OFHEO report shows that 21 states experienced price declines in the third quarter. Seventeen of the 20 cities having the most depreciation are in Florida and California, and the other three are in Michigan. Thirteen cities in California had price declines of 5% or more. "Rising inventories of for-sale properties are clearly having material impact on home prices," said Patrick Lawler, OFHEO's chief economist. "Until those inventories shrink, that will be a great source of resistance to prices increases."