Home prices slip in U.S., but not in Charlotte

Charlotte-area home prices keep climbing while values slide in much of the nation, data released Tuesday show.
Charlotte was the only metro area among 20 surveyed in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index where prices rose between December and January.

The region's home values inched up 0.4 percent in those months, while the composite of 20 cities fell 0.6 percent. The index tracks prices on existing homes.
Year over year, Charlotte had the third-highest price growth. For all 20 cities, annual values dipped 0.2 percent -- the first drop since 2001.

"There's a good chance we'll see bigger drops (nationally)," Robert Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets, told Bloomberg News. "The psychology is changing."
Charlotte has fared better than most because the region's home values did not post annual leaps of 25 percent to 50 percent that Washington, Phoenix and Las Vegas reached during 2004 and 2005.

Charlotte's annual price growth has ranged from 2 percent to 5 percent with healthy employment and migration, S&P's Maureen Maitland said. The region's current home-price growth, 7.9 percent, is the biggest in six years.

Some Rise, Some Fall
The latest annual change in home values among 20 metro areas surveyed in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index:
1. Seattle: 11.1%
2. Portland: 8.7%
3. Charlotte: 7.9%
4. Miami: 4.2%
5. Atlanta: 2.3%
6. Chicago: 2.2%
7. Los Angeles: 1%
8. Dallas: 0.5%
9. Las Vegas: 0%
10. Tampa: -0.1%
11. Phoenix: -0.7%
12. Minneapolis: -0.9%
12. New York: -0.9%
14. Denver: -1.1%
15. San Fran.: -1.4%
16. Cleveland: -2.7%
17. Wash. D.C.: -3.9%
18. San Diego: -4.2%
19. Boston: -5.6%
20. Detroit: -6.9%
Composite: -0.2%