House prices slide further in US
Home prices and sales of new homes lost ground in recent months in the United States. The Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price index, a major indicator of the US property market, showed house prices fell 4.5% in May.
Over the year, house prices were lower in every city except Washington D.C., where prices rose 1.3%.
Estate agents and builders say the debt-ceiling debate in Washington is rattling an already fragile market.
"If you're looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, we don't have it," David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee, told the Wall Street Journal.
"We all agree the market ain't going anyplace at all," Blitzer says.
On a month-to-month, seasonally adjusted basis, prices were up in nine cities, led by Washington (up 1.4%) and Boston, Massachusetts (up 1.2%). Prices in 11 cities were lower, led by Detroit, Michigan (down 3.4%) and Tampa, Florida (down 1.5%).
Separately, the Census Bureau reported that new home sales fell 1% in June from a month earlier to an annual rate of 312,000 units. That was weaker than many economists were expecting and puts the current sales pace below last year's total of 323,000 sales, which was the lowest annual total on record.
Economists said the housing market continues to be hampered by tight lending standards that are keeping buyers on the sidelines as well as high unemployment. The national rate now stands at 9.2%. The political battle between Republicans and Democrats in Washington over raising the debt ceiling has injected fresh worries to the market.
