Las Vegas-area home prices fell again in March as prices nationwide hit their lowest point since the start of the recession, Standard & Poor’s reported Tuesday.
The debt rating agency issued its monthly S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showing prices in 20 big markets nationwide were down 0.8 percent from February to March; and down 3.6 percent comparing March 2011 to March 2010.
Prices nationwide earlier had bottomed out nationwide during the recession in April 2009 -- but have now fallen further to mid-2002 levels.
In Las Vegas, prices in March were down 1.1 percent on a month-to-month basis and were off 5.3 percent on an annual basis.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, Las Vegas prices fell 0.6 percent from February to March.
Tuesday’s report showed several markets performing worse than Las Vegas as the nation was hit with a broad decline in home prices.
On a year-to-year basis, for instance, Chicago was down 7.6 percent, Minneapolis tumbled 10 percent and Phoenix slid 8.4 percent.
That’s not to say Las Vegas has a stronger market, as Las Vegas experienced severe declines in 2010 and has yet to rebound. For instance, in March 2010 Las Vegas prices were down 12 percent on a year-over-year basis.
The new Standard & Poor’s numbers show Las Vegas-area home prices, which peaked in August 2006, are now at May 1999 levels. They first dipped to below January 2000 levels in December 2010.
Since rising slightly in September, this is the sixth consecutive month of home price declines for Las Vegas as measured by Standard & Poor’s.
The Standard & Poor’s numbers for March compare to numbers issued for April by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, which found the median price of a single-family home in April was $125,000, down 0.8 percent from March and down 12 percent from April 2010.
Prices locally have been hurt by a glut of foreclosures as well as stubbornly-high unemployment, currently at 12.1 percent.
"The (national) rebound in prices seen in 2009 and 2010 was largely due to the first-time home buyers tax credit. Excluding the results of that policy, there has been no recovery or even stabilization in home prices during or after the recent recession. Further, while last year saw signs of an economic recovery, the most recent data do not point to renewed gains,’’ David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, said in a statement.