Home prices slide slightly

Home prices dropped slightly in the month of September, as the housing market appears to be settling in to a period of stasis as the economy is slow to recover.

Home values in 20 metropolitan areas slid by 0.6 percent in the month of September, and linger 3.6 percent below where they stood one year ago. The latest data from the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index paints the picture of a housing market that is no longer collapsing, but certainly isn't gaining by leaps and bounds, either.

"The plunging collapse of prices seen in 2007-2009 seems to be behind us," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices. "Any chance for a sustained recovery will probably need a stronger economy."

Ever since the subprime mortgage crisis hit, the housing market has been a heavy anchor weighing on any economic recovery.

However, solutions to help boost that market have so far escaped policymakers, as the two parties disagree on the best course forward for the nation's housing market.

Seventeen of the 20 cities tracked by the index reported falling home prices in the month of September, with New York, Portland and Washington being the lone spots of increasing value. Home prices in the nation's capital were far and away the healthiest, as prices increased 1.2 percent that month, as opposed to just 0.1 percent growth in the other two gaining cities.

Washington and Detroit are the only two cities to actually report increases in home prices over the last year.

For the cities that continue to see homes lose value, Atlanta was hit the hardest in September, with prices tumbling 5.9 percent. Most other cities reported losses of about 1 percent or lower.

It is a "bit disturbing" to see three cities — Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix — hit new lows since the housing downturn, Blitzer said.

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