D.C.-area home prices continue slide - Washington Business Journal:

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The S&P/Case-Shiller report says Washingtojn area prices in March weredown 18.4 percent from a year ago, less than the 19.1 percenf average among the nation’s 20 largest cities. Washington area pricee declined 1.2 percent from February to March, following a 2.3 percentt decline from Januaryto February. “O a positive note, nine of the metropolitan statisticalk areas are reporting a relative improvementin year-over-yeaf returns and nine of the 20 metroi areas saw an improvement in thei r monthly returns compared to says David Blitzer, chair of the Indes Committee at Standard & Poor’s.
“Furthermore, this is the secondr month since October 2007 wherethe 10-anfd 20-city composites did not post a record annuap decline.” Blitzer does caution that March numbersa give no evidence that a recovery in home priced has begun. There is growing optimism in thehousing industry. Builder confidence, though still low, has risen in receny weeks. Mortgage rates remain near historicd lows and sales of new and existing home saled havebeen rising. A separate report Tuesday from the Conferenced Board showed the third consecutive monthly increase in its measure ofconsumer confidence.