Second wave of housing bust hammers more cities

Seattle and Portland are among the places where home prices are at their lowest levels since peaking in 2006-07

By Alex Veiga - Christopher S. Rugaber

Published January 25, 2011 11:12PM (EST)

An auction sign for a property is seen at the front garden of a foreclosed house in Miami Gardens, Florida in this September 15, 2009 file photo. There are more than 6,600 home foreclosure filings per day, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonpartisan watchdog group based in Durham, North Carolina. With nearly two million already this year, the flood of foreclosures shows no sign of abating any time soon. To match feature USA-HOUSING/FORECLOSURES REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Files (UNITED STATES POLITICS BUSINESS) (Reuters)
An auction sign for a property is seen at the front garden of a foreclosed house in Miami Gardens, Florida in this September 15, 2009 file photo. There are more than 6,600 home foreclosure filings per day, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonpartisan watchdog group based in Durham, North Carolina. With nearly two million already this year, the flood of foreclosures shows no sign of abating any time soon. To match feature USA-HOUSING/FORECLOSURES REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Files (UNITED STATES POLITICS BUSINESS) (Reuters)

A second wave of falling home prices is battering some cities that had escaped the worst of the housing market bust.

Prices in Seattle, Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., have hit their lowest points since peaking in 2006 and 2007. Denver and Minneapolis are nearing new lows. High unemployment and rising foreclosures are taking a toll even on markets that never overheated during the boom years.

Home values are dwindling in nearly every American market. Prices fell in November in all but one of the 20 cities in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Eight of those markets hit their lowest point since the housing bubble burst.

In many places, prices are expected to keep falling for at least the next six months.


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