Prices down 4 months in a row

U.S. home prices declined for a fourth consecutive month in November, falling 5.07 percent from a year ago, according to a home-price index compiled by mortgage data aggregator CoreLogic.

The latest declines — steeper than the 3.35 percent year-over-year price drop registered in October — left the national home-price index down 30 percent from its April 2006 peak.

"We’re continuing to see the influence of seasonal declines that typically depress home prices during the latter part of the year, but the fact that the rate of decline increased for November is indicative of the uphill battle we’re facing with the housing recovery," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a statement.

Prices fell in all but six states, the exceptions being Maine, which saw 8.58 percent price appreciation, North Dakota (4.41 percent), Wyoming (3.67 percent), New York (2.07 percent) Vermont (1.78 percent ) and Indiana (1.1 percent).

Prices were down in seven out of 10 of the nation’s 10 biggest metro areas: Phoenix (-8.34 percent), Chicago (-6.59 percent), Atlanta (-6.22 percent), Philadelphia (-4.05 percent), Dallas (-3.87 percent), Los Angeles (-1.71 percent) and Washington, D.C. (-0.99 percent). The three metros seeing price appreciation were Houston (2.48 percent), Riverside, Calif. (1.68 percent) and New York (0.9 percent).

The picture changes significantly in some markets if sales of distressed properties are excluded from the index. In Mississippi, for example, the index showed a 0.27 percent annual price decline when distressed property sales were excluded from the calculation, compared with an 8.37 percent decline among all properties.

The index showed a 3.2 percent price decline in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta metro area when sales of distressed properties were excluded.

Nationally, home prices were down 2.21 percent in November when distressed property sales were excluded, and off 21.7 percent from April 2006.

Top 10 states for price declines

Source: CoreLogic