US house prices post record declines in April - S&P

24 June 2008 16:48  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Average US house prices fell by record amounts in April, with all cities in a much-watched index posting annual declines, according to a report released on Tuesday by Standard & Poor's (S&P).

One of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices tracks house prices in 20 major cities.

The cities' cumulative sales price for April fell by a record 15.3% year on year, S&P said. In addition, 13 cities posted annual declines of record amounts.

A 10-city house price index fell 16.3% - another record amount, S&P said.

The housing industry is a key downstream consuming sector for chemicals and chemicals-based products such as roofing materials, adhesives, insulation, sidings, paints and coatings, synthetic materials, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes and a broad range of other construction materials.

As long as house prices continue to fall, buyers will likely be reluctant to purchase a depreciating asset.

However, the April statistics showed that the rate of declines slowed down for three cities - Chicago in Illinois, Cleveland in Ohio and Denver in Colorado.

"If there is anywhere to look for possible improvement, it would be that the pace of monthly declines have slowed down for most of the markets," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P.

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By: Al Greenwood
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