NATION

NATION

Home prices falling at record annual rates

NEW YORK — In a bad omen for sellers and lenders this spring home selling season, the erosion of house values is accelerating, new data showed Tuesday.

A closely watched index of home prices in 20 cities fell almost 13 percent in February from a year earlier, a record for the seven-year-old S P’s/Case-Shiller Home Price index.

David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S P, said that February also marked the sixth straight month that all 20 cities experienced declines. He said 17 of the metro areas the index tracks reported record annual declines, led again by Miami and Las Vegas.

Number of homes heading to foreclosure doubles

LOS ANGELES — The number of U.S. homes heading toward foreclosure more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier, as weakening property values and tighter lending left many homeowners powerless to prevent homes from being auctioned to the highest bidder, a research firm said Monday.

Among the hardest-hit states were Nevada, Florida and, in particular, California, where Stockton led the nation with a foreclosure rate that was 6.6 times the national average, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said.

Nationwide, 649,917 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in the first three months of the year, up 112 percent from 306,722 during the same period last year, RealtyTrac said.

Associated Press