Yikes!  Yesterday’s Case-Shiller index posted a record drop in house prices.  It was the 10th straight month of falling prices.  The experts do not expect improvement soon because “Prices will probably remain under pressure as the jump in foreclosures puts even more homes on the market just as stricter lending rules make it harder for buyers to find financing.”  Every metro area surveyed was down month-over-month, even if a few were still up year-over year.  Here’s the data in chart form.

As a little bonus, check out this two-part item on the current housing mess from EconoSpeak:  one;  two.

Despite this rather dismal news, I am optimistic that on a local basis we are closer to the end than the beginning.  We are starting to work through inventory.  There is evidence that listing prices are becoming more realistic (even when it means a short sale).  Builders only have so much inventory:  they are not breaking ground on anything not already sold;  and since the end of the year is next week, the incentive to get property off the books for tax purposes is going away.  And topping all this off is the news that Nevada is once more the fastest growing state, with 2.56 million residents and a growth rate of 2.9%.  Since “demographic experts think the county’s population surged past the 2 million mark sometime in the past few months,”  that means almost 80% of the state’s population lives here in the Las Vegas Valley.  Those 2 million people and all the newcomers need places to live.