U.S. home prices slumped further in Jan -S&P index

By Al Yoon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes slumped for the 18th month in a row in January, for a record annual drop, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released on Tuesday.

The composite month-over-month index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.4 percent to 180.65 from December, bringing the measure down 10.7 percent from a year earlier and 12.5 percent from its July 2006 peak.

The 12-month drop was the latest in a string of records for the statistic set as the housing market slumped. The previous annual drop, in December, was 9.1 percent.

The latest annual decline was just over half of the 20 percent total decline expected by S&P's chief economist, David Wyss, said David Blitzer, a managing director at S&P.

Wyss expects prices to hit bottom in early 2009, Blitzer said in a conference call.

"Unfortunately, house prices continue to decline and the decline continues to be really nationwide," said Blitzer, who chairs S&P's index committee.

Falling home prices have broken the back of the U.S. housing market, which during the housing boom was increasingly financed with risky loans. Homeowners, especially those with little or no equity in their property, are facing a record foreclosures, threatening the economy that some economists say is in recession.

House price depreciation accelerated in February, according to FBR Investment Management analyst Michael Youngblood, citing data from data provider LoanPerformance.