Mortgage Foreclosure & Refinance Resource

Home prices fell 6.7 percent in October, compared with a year ago, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 10-city home-price index. It was the largest drop recorded since the index began in 1987. It marked the 10th consecutive month of price depreciation and 23 months of decelerating returns. Miami was hit with a 12.4 percent decline in the month, the most of any area. Tampa fell 11.8 percent and Detroit, 11.2 percent. Sun Belt cities have suffered deep losses with San Diego down 11.1 percent in the past year, Phoenix off 10.6 percent and Las Vegas 10.7 percent. In Los Angeles, a huge market, home prices have fallen 8.8 percent.

Should ARM mortgages continue to reset, leaving more people unable to pay their new mortgage rates even more houses will flood the market, continuing to drive down the housing prices, which makes any arm mortgage relief or subprime relief program that much more important for the US economy.

The fall is also attributed to tighter mortgage standards, lower consumer confidence and a plunge in speculation. The large inventories have created an 11-month supply of homes for sale; a spike in foreclosures has added to the supply; and the increase in sellers of vacant homes desperate to move.