The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released on Tuesday hint at a lengthening housing slump, with the home prices in 20 foremost metropolitan areas falling more-than-expected in March, and with the foreclosures surging!

Figuratively speaking, S&P said that the month-on-month home prices index of 20 metropolitan areas dropped 2.2 percent in March, as against the February figures. Meanwhile, the year-on-year index for the month of March fell 18.7 percent, as compared to the same-month earlier-year figures, with Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco leading the way for the falling home prices.
 
The 20-city index, which dates back to 2000, plunged to a record low of 19 percent in January this year, indicating a disquieting downturn in the US housing market, with a vast supply of unsold homes, rigid lending standards and record foreclosures pushing down the home prices.

The foreclosures have depressed the value of other properties, and have added to a slump in household wealth that is cramping both the consumer spending as well as the economy. 

Commenting on the recent home price index figures, economist Celia Chen - of Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania - said in an interview: “The housing market still has somewhat of a ways to go before it completely bottoms. Prices I think still will fall a little bit further.”