国际英语新闻：Home prices in major U.S. metropolitan areas fall record 10.7%

Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in January by 10.7 percent.

NEW YORK, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in January by the most on record, a sign the housing recession is deepening, a private survey showed Tuesday.

    The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index dropped 10.7 percent from January 2007, after a 9 percent year-on-year decrease through December 2007. The index has fallen for 13 consecutive months.

    Price declines will continue as foreclosures add to a glut of unsold properties, and stricter lending rules make it harder to get financing.

    January home prices fell 2.4 percent from a month earlier, following a 2.1 percent decline the prior month, the Case-Shiller report showed.

    All but one of the 20 cities in the index showed year-over-year declines in prices in January, led by drops of 19.3 percent in Las Vegas and Miami.

    A separate report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Tuesday showed home values fell 3 percent in January from a year ago, and 1.1 percent from December.