Reply #1: My head hurts.

[zeos3]

Here's the other article on LBN:

U.S. home prices appear to have bottomed out

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4121580

Source: Los Angeles Times.com

U.S. home prices appear have to scraped a bottom, with a leading national index showing three consecutive months of gains this summer.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas showed a 1% increase in the seasonally adjusted median price of homes from July to August. The index has posted month-to-month gains since June.

"I think we have reached some kind of bottom," David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's Index Committee, said. U.S. home prices continued to decline in August, falling 11.3% when compared to the same month a year earlier, though not as steeply as past months, according to the data released this morning.

"This one looks real at this point," Blitzer said. "The question more to me is whether this is going to sort of flatten out or if it is going to go straight up; if you get a month that goes down , I don't think that it is much of a concern."

Looking at the seasonally adjusted monthly data, 17 of the metro areas tracked by the index showed improvements in August when compared to July. Meanwhile, 19 out of the 20 markets showed moderation in their year-over-year rates of decline.

As of August, home prices across the United States are at their pre-bubble levels of autumn 2003, according to the index.

Southern California cities -- San Diego and, in particular, Los Angeles -- have seen notable gains, separating themselves from other Sun Belt cities, including Las Vegas and Phoenix, Blitzer said.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-home-prices28-200...