The new figures are once again suggesting fall in US home prices in major cities.

Though the sector made small gains over the summer and spring, a crucial time is again here for the sector. Worst came when the reports highlighted that the troubled housing market is very weak and chances to recover in anytime soon are not much.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index was released on Tuesday. The report clearly showed that the prices have dropped in September from August in approximately 17 of all the 20 cities that were tracked, making it the first decline that the cities faced after five months and which affected half of the cities that in the survey showed monthly gains.

A separate index has also been issued for the July-September quarter showing that the prices remained almost equal to the figures of the previous quarter.

Some of the reasons that have been highlighted in the report behind the fall in prices of US homes include high unemployment and weak job growth which all have together deterred many would-be buyers from making any new deal regarding their houses. Even the lowest mortgage rates in history haven’t been enough to lift up the sales.

Regarding the situation, Mr. David M. Blitzer, the Chairman of S&P’s Index Committee said that since the steep price decline that the nation saw between 2007 and 2009 is over now but the home prices are still down from the same time last year and are not even showing any signs of easing.

“Any chance for a sustained recovery will probably need a stronger economy”, Blitzer said.

Among major cities, only New York, Portland, Ore. and Washington were showed increases in monthly prices in September.