real estate:

Report: Homes lost nearly one-third of value in a year

Bright spot shows rate of decline slowed over the previous month

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | 9:57 a.m.

Real Estate in Crisis

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A closely-watched national index today showed continued declines in home values in Las Vegas and other big cities nationwide.

Debt rating agency Standard & Poor’s updated its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for January. They showed "continued broad-based declines in the prices of existing single-family homes across the United States, with 13 of the 20 metro areas (measured) showing record rates of annual decline, and 14 reporting declines in excess of 10 percent versus January 2008."

Prices in Las Vegas, S&P said, were off 32.5 percent in January compared to January 2008. But S&P reported a bit of good news: The monthly rate of decline fell in Las Vegas, with prices down 4.8 percent from November to December and 4.4 percent from December to January.

Las Vegas had an index value of 125.64 in January, compared to 100 in January 2000, meaning prices here are 25.64 percent higher than in January 2000.

"As of January 2009, average home prices across the United States are at similar levels to what they were in late 2003," S&P said.

"On a marginally positive note Cleveland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas are reporting a relative improvement in year-over-year returns, in terms of lesser rates of decline than last month’s values. Furthermore, Las Vegas, along with five other metro areas, showed a marginal improvement in monthly returns, albeit still negative," S&P said.

Still, in terms of annual price depreciation, Las Vegas was among the three worst performers at 32.5 percent. The others were Phoenix, off 35 percent; and San Francisco, down 32.4 percent.

Today's numbers -- reflecting the recession and a glut of foreclosed homes that have pushed prices down -- are in line with numbers issued earlier this month by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

The Realtors reported that locally, the median home price in February was $155,603 -- off 37 percent from February 2008.