Home prices still heading south

House prices continued to plunge in the first quarter, with new data revealing record declines across the country. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index, which tracks single-family house prices, tumbled 14.1% in the first quarter, compared with the comparable quarter a year ago. The decline is the largest in the 20-year history of the index, outstripping the declines of the 1990-91 housing slump by more than 10%. The index comprises two indexes, one reflecting prices in 10 cities nationwide and another covering 20 cities. Both composite indexes set record declines from a year ago, falling 15.3% and 14.4%, respectively. In the broader index, prices declined in 19 cities, with greatest drops reported in Las Vegas (-25.9%), Miami (-24.6%) and Phoenix (-23%). Despite the national downturn, two markets saw higher home prices: Charlotte, N.C., where prices rose 0.8% over the February-March period, and Dallas, where prices rose 1.1%.