Home Prices Hit New Post-Bubble Low

By Mark Memmott

Published May 31, 2011 at 7:06 AM MDT

When the housing bubble burst, many homes went into foreclosure — further depressing prices.

There was a 4.2 percent drop in home prices during the first quarter according to the widely watched S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices report, which was just released.

And after the 3.6 percent decline in fourth-quarter 2010, prices have "hit a new recession low" and are down 5.1 percent from first-quarter 2010.

"Nationally, home prices are back to their mid-2002 levels," the report adds.

According to David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, we now have "confirmation of a double-dip in home prices across much of the nation."

Our friends at Planet Money make sense of the economic news over here.

Update at 9:20 a.m. ET. More from the report:

In March, according to the report, prices fell from February in all but two of the 20 major cities where S&P/Case-Shiller tracks sales.

Changes In Home Prices, March From February:

Atlanta -1.9%

Boston -1.7%

Charlotte -2.4%

Chicago -2.4%

Cleveland -1.8%

Dallas -0.8%

Denver -0.6%

Detroit -2.0%