Home Values Decrease Again In Miami

MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for April showed a slight monthly increase in prices across the board, but that's not helping home prices in South Florida.

Miami and Tampa both showed new index lows in April, along with Charlotte, Detroit, Chicago, Detroit and Las Vegas. S&P index committee chairman David Blitzer said that while the overall numbers were better, it's unknown if this was a blip or the start of a trend.

"The seasonally adjusted numbers show that much of the improvement reflects the beginning of the Spring-Summer home buying season," Blitzer said. "It is much too early to tell if this is a turning point or simply due to some warmer weather.

One of the catch-22's that are impacting home values is that banks continue to tighten lending standards, which in turn makes it harder to qualify for a mortgage, despite very low interest rates. So even as foreclosures decline, home prices continue to lag behind.

In Miami, home prices were down 0.2 percent from March and down 1 percent from February. In a year-over-year comparison, home prices in Miami dropped 5.6 percent. Miami's rate of decline followed the general overall value of homes in both the 10-city composite and the 20-city composite.

Miami's home values have dropped 51.2 percent from their peak in December 2006.