Chart of The Day: National Home Prices

From AP:

"The decline in U.S. home prices accelerated nationwide in July, posting the steepest drop in 16 years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday.

Home prices have fallen by more every month since the beginning of the year."

It looks like the decline in home prices has rapidly accelerating downward through the summer months and will probably continue through the fall and winter. This will have a major effect on Mortgage Equity Withdrawal (MEW) , new home purchases and the mortgage values held by the banks. With the foreclosure rate increasing as well, this does not look good for the overall residential real estate market.

In a related note, homebuilder Lennar post a large loss and Lowes warns of lower than expected earnings.