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Home prices fall in January

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By Sam Lewis

March 27, 2007 2:09 pm ET

U.S. home prices dropped in January, disrupting a six-year streak of increases in housing costs, according to a report released today.

Home price data released by Standard & Poor’s for the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index showed negative returns for both the 10-city and 20-city composite indexes, the first decrease since the group started keeping year-over-year records in January 2001.

The 10-city index was down 0.8% in January, or an annual rate of 10%.

The expanded 20-city index was down 0.7% in January, or an 8.7% annual rate.

A year ago, the prices were rising 15%.

The numbers follow a report yesterday that showed new home sales at their lowest level in almost seven years.

Detroit and Boston had the largest annual declines, at 6.9% and 5.6% respectively.

With Phoenix and Tampa now reporting negative annual returns, 11 of the 20 metro areas are now in year-over-year negative decline.

Charlotte, N.C. is the only metro area that showed price increases between December and January, rebounding 7.9% compared to the 6.7% reported in December.

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