S&P: Home Prices Drop By Record 12-Month Decline of 15.8% Through May

Home prices fell by the steepest rate ever in May, according to The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index.

No city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw price gains in May, the second straight month that's happened. The monthly indices have not recorded an overall home price increase in any month since August 2006.

Nine metropolitan cities — Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C. — posted record lows in May.

Las Vegas recorded the worst drop, with prices plunging 28.4 percent over the last 12 months ending May 2008. Miami came in a close second, with prices down 28.3 percent over the last 12 months.

Charlotte, N.C., posted the smallest drop of 0.2 percent ovrr the last 12 months enging in May 2008. Until April, the North Carolina city had been the last metro still showing price gains.

"The Sunbelt led by Miami, Tampa, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles saw the biggest booms and now see the largest declines. The Northeast, including Boston and New York,is cyclical but less volatile while the Midwest, paced by Detroit and Cleveland face difficult local economies” said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.

Note: Be careful of the AP numbers being put out which are using a headline that reports a decline in May of 15.8%, without reporting this is for the 12-month period--not a decline of 15.8% for just the month of May.